Our Funding Partners

In order to make your investment in research stretch farther, we partner with like-minded organizations to fund projects that have been positively reviewed by our Scientific Advisory Board. These partner organizations are ones that are also deeply interested in investing in a cure, and have separately reviewed the grant proposal, coming to the conclusion that these proposals may indeed get us closer to the goal.

The following is a list of co-funded grants for each partner. See also the entire list of grants to date.

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Jan 1, 2020 to Dec 31, 2020
$18,770
Research - Clinical
Preliminary experiments to critically test the validity of using SLC34A2, in muscle and in serum, as a biomarker in future studies of FSHD.
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Mar 18, 2019 to Mar 17, 2021
$95,062
Research - Translational
In this study, we seek to validate the drugs in genetically modified mice in which we have engineered the human DNA sequences that regulate expression of DUX4.
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May 7, 2018 to May 6, 2019
$97,734
Research - Clinical
Identify protein biomarkers in blood samples from patients with early onset FSHD, which can be used to evaluate treatment efficacy in clinical trials.
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Jun 14, 2017 to Jun 13, 2019
$100,000
Research - Translational
Generate and characterize a genetically well controlled set of grafts from cells from a mosaic patient with FSHD, and then use them to test a new therapeutic drug developed by Fulcrum to target DUX4.
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Feb 29, 2016 to Mar 1, 2016
$32,325
Conference
Two-Day research conference.
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Jul 1, 2015 to Jun 30, 2016
$60,180
Research - Basic
Dr. Lim aims to understand the role of small RNAs in the regulation of the FSHD-causing gene, DUX4.
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Jun 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016
$50,000
Research - Translational
Dr. Harper will lead a team to test a DUX4-targeting compound in an animal model of FSHD.
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May 1, 2015 to Apr 30, 2016
$50,000
Research - Translational
Scientists at Genea Biocells are building and validating an improved, large-scale screening platform for FSHD.
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May 1, 2015 to Apr 30, 2017
$100,000
Research - Translational
One of the obstacles in developing treatments for FSHD is the lack of a small animal model of the disease.
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Jan 1, 2015 to Jun 30, 2017
$100,000
Research - Translational
We have extended funding for Maura Parker's innovative project that seeks to revolutionize the culture of skeletal muscle.
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Jan 1, 2015 to Jun 30, 2015
$33,397
Research - Basic
Drs. Aihara and Kyba seek to understand the structure of the DUX4 protein.
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Jan 1, 2015 to Dec 31, 2016
$100,000
Research - Translational
This grant aims to develop a lead compound by taking advantage of a novel DNA sequence required for DUX4 expression.
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Jun 1, 2014 to May 31, 2016
$88,966
Research - Clinical
This study aims to identify markers in human serum that correlate with FSH pathology.
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Jun 1, 2014 to May 31, 2015
$50,000
Research - Translational
Dr. Kyba proposes a novel strategy for identifying compounds that directly inhibit the FSHD-causing gene, DUX4.
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Dec 1, 2013 to Nov 30, 2014
$39,930
Research - Translational
Maura Parker proposes to use a novel culture method to generate mice with human muscles to more accurately model FSHD in an animal model.

Total shared investment: $1,016,364

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Jul 1, 2024 to Jun 30, 2026
$14,087
Research - Basic
Create a physiologically relevant FSHD tissue model that can be used in preclinical therapeutic drug testing.
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Jul 1, 2024 to Jun 30, 2025
$14,087
Research - Basic
Development of a functional silencing assay that can be used to identify the pathways and factors that silence DUX4 expression.
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Jul 1, 2024 to Jun 30, 2025
$113,698
Research - Basic
Unravel the EV composition in the plasma of FSHD patients.
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Mar 1, 2020 to Feb 28, 2022
$130,465
Research - Basic
We have identified a class of transcription factors that are important for DUX4 expression, are known to be regulated by p38 and may link the expression of DUX4 to the p38 signaling cascade. We propose to identify the specific family member, determine where it binds to regulate the DUX4 gene and investigate how its activity is regulated by p38 kinase.
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Feb 1, 2020 to Jan 31, 2022
$197,753
Research - Basic
When healthy muscle cells grown in the laboratory are forced to make the FSHD-causing protein DUX4, they die catastrophically. Studying these dying cells can offer a glimpse into the molecular events set in motion by DUX4 that culminate in cell death.
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May 7, 2018 to May 6, 2022
$325,770
Research - Basic
Support for professional dedicated lab personnel.
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Jun 19, 2017 to Jun 18, 2019
$75,136
Research - Basic
Identify, characterize, and ultimately inhibit DUX4 protein modifications that may contribute to its toxic properties in FSHD muscle.

Total shared investment: $870,996

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Jun 1, 2020 to May 31, 2021
$52,979
Research - Basic
In coordination with the Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Center for research in Seattle, Friends is providing co-funding for a one-year fellowship.
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Jun 1, 2019 to May 31, 2020
$60,830
Research - Basic
In coordination with the Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Center for research in Seattle, Friends is providing co-funding for a one-year fellowship.

Total shared investment: $113,809

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This project seeks to make use of our recently developed analytic strategy that uses all scans for modeling change, which alleviates the need to pair or synchronize timepoints.

Total shared investment: $70,000