2018

2018 Research Grants

Thanks to your hard work and support, the National MPS Society is thrilled to announce the selection of $450,000 in new research grants through our annual research program. This year, the Society will directly fund $550,500 in research, which includes grant awards for both 2018 and the second-year distribution of our 2017 grants. 

This includes the $100,000 in grants funded through our partnership with the University of Pennsylvania through the Million Dollar Bike Ride. Therapies and cures are being discovered because of research programs like this—the Society is driven to help our children and adults in need!
In April, the board of directors announced the availability of grants for MPS I, MPS III, MPS IV and general research (open for all MPS and ML syndromes). Following a review of 32 letters of intent, our Scientific Advisory Board reviewed selected proposals and recommended funding the following projects as the best research presented in each category.

Projects selected include research syndromes in desperate need of funding. Sanfilippo research will receive $320,000 and Mucolipidosis will receive $90,000. In addition, gene therapy discoveries will highlight MPS IV, and critical safety studies for MPS I cornea gene therapy will occur.

TWO YEAR GRANTS: 
$90,000 general grant
Dr. Heather Flanagan-Steet
Greenwood Genetic Center
Greenwood, South Carolina
“Cysteine Cathespins as Therapeutic Targets in Mucolipidosis II”

$90,000 general grant
Dr. Kim Hemsley 
SAHMRI
Adelaide, Australia
“A Window to the Sanfillipo Brain: Visualizing Experience-Dependent Plasticity in MPS IIIA Mice”

$75,000 MPS IV grant
Dr. Kazuki Sawamoto
Nemours Biomedical Research, Alfred I. duPont Hospital
Wilmington, Delaware
“Substrate Degradation Enzyme Therapy for MPS IVA”

$60,000 MPS III grant
Dr. Laura Hewson 
University of Australia
Adelaide, Australia
“Purine Metabolic Enzymes as Therapeutic Targets in Sanfilippo Syndrome”

ONE YEAR GRANTS 
$30,000 MPS I grant
Dr. Timothy Wood
Greenwood Genetic Center
Greenwood, South Carolina
“Functional Analyses of IDUA Sequence Variants – MPS I”

$30,000 MPS I grant
Dr. Brian Gilger
NC State University
Raleigh, North Carolina
“Safety Studies for Corneal AAV-IDUA Gene Therapy to Reverse Corneal Blindness in MPS I”

Lysosomal Disease Network – $25,000 Multi-syndrome
University of Minnesota
Neuroimaging Core NIH Project

The National MPS Society’s professionally run and peer-reviewed research program continues to be recognized as a major funder of research, a supporter of young researchers and a collaborative effort with the NIH, family foundations, research institutions and charities in the U.S. and globally.

We extend a huge THANK YOU to you and all the researchers who continue the fight for our loved ones in need. We look forward to soon announcing the research projects funded by the $100,000 raised in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania through the Million Dollar Bike Ride!