Muscular Dystrophy News and Research

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The muscular dystrophies (MD) are a group of more than 30 genetic diseases characterized by progressive weakness and degeneration of the skeletal muscles that control movement. Some forms of MD are seen in infancy or childhood, while others may not appear until middle age or later. The disorders differ in terms of the distribution and extent of muscle weakness (some forms of MD also affect cardiac muscle), age of onset, rate of progression, and pattern of inheritance.

Oz escalates Medicaid fraud claims against states after focus on Minnesota

The Trump administration has signaled a willingness to halt billions of dollars in federal health payments to multiple states, mirroring moves they made against Minnesota.

20 Mar 2026

New catalog identifies dozens of plasma membrane repair proteins

In the evolutionary history of life, the ability of a cell to separate its inner world from the external environment was an important turning point.

10 Mar 2026

New CRISPR technique boosts mitochondrial function to treat heart failure

After a heart attack, the heart struggles to recoup and maintain energy. One third of patients develop heart failure as a result ⎯ a condition that impacts 6.8 million Americans and carries a high lifetime risk with 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. expected to develop the condition during their lifetime.

9 Mar 2026

New BIND screener identifies brain-related comorbidities risk in Duchenne muscular dystrophy

In research published in Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, investigators developed a brief, reliable, and valid screening tool to help identify individuals with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (a neuromuscular disorder) who are at increased risk of brain-related comorbidities, such as language disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and anxiety.

14 Jan 2026

ALS breakthrough: Restoring protein production in motor neuron axons

Researchers at VIB and KU Leuven have identified a molecular process that allows motor neurons to maintain protein production, a process that fails in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

12 Jan 2026

Viral DNA elements help control early embryonic development

Transposable elements are stretches of DNA that can move around the genome. Many of these DNA sequences originate from long ago, when viruses inserted their genetic material into our ancestors' genomes during infection.

19 Dec 2025

Over-contracted gut muscles drive gastrointestinal symptoms in myotonic dystrophy

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is the most common form of adult-onset muscular dystrophy, affecting about 1 in 8,000 people. While it is well known for causing muscle weakness and stiffness, DM1 also affects other organs, including the brain, heart and gastrointestinal (GI) tract.

12 Dec 2025

New method can stop or reverse the decline of cellular energy production

Biomedical researchers at Texas A&M University may have discovered a way to stop or even reverse the decline of cellular energy production - a finding that could have revolutionary effects across medicine.

22 Nov 2025

Discovery of unexpected mechanism may help improve healing across muscle injuries

At the cellular level, the mechanics of how muscle tissue repair occurs gets complicated. There are significant differences between, say, tearing a muscle in a sports injury versus muscle tissue wasting away from diseases like muscular dystrophy.

21 Nov 2025

Smartphones match traditional methods in monitoring patients with muscular dystrophy

Stanford Medicine researchers found that a smartphone could monitor patients with two types of muscular dystrophy as well as traditional methods and diagnose conditions more accurately — at no cost.

3 Nov 2025

New method yields up to twice as many therapeutic myogenic cells as previous protocols

If cancer is a disease of overabundance, where cells divide without restraint and tumors grow despite the body's best interests, then degenerative diseases are disorders of deprivation.

30 Oct 2025

Second round of exercise boosts muscle growth in mice

New research offers potential good news for those who've lapsed at the gym. The study found that mice that voluntarily ran on an exercise wheel for four weeks, stopped for four weeks and ran again for another four weeks saw unexpected gains.

2 Oct 2025

Calcium-induced release identified as key driver of dangerous muscle disorders

Researchers engineered mice with a mutation (E3896A) in the RyR1 calcium-binding site, eliminating calcium-induced calcium release (CICR) without affecting depolarization-induced calcium release.

25 Sep 2025

Charity funding boosts research into inclusion body myopathy at Aston University

Muscular Dystrophy UK, a charity working on behalf of 110,000 children and adults living with more than 60 muscle-wasting conditions, has awarded £140,944 in funding to Dr. Rebecca Jones at Aston University for a project to understand the cause of a condition called inclusion body myopathy.

13 Sep 2025

Under Trump, FDA seeks to abandon expert reviews of new drugs

FDA leaders under President Donald Trump are moving to abandon a decades-old policy of asking outside experts to review drug applications, a move critics say would shield the agency's decisions from public scrutiny.

12 Sep 2025

Improving gene therapy safety with human kidney organoids

Ryuji Morizane, MD, PhD, of the Department of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, is the senior/corresponding author of a new paper published in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, "AAV for gene therapy drives a nephrotoxic response via NFκB in kidney organoids."

19 Aug 2025