Mike Walters, ITDD Director of Lead & Probe Discovery, was quoted in the HealthCanal.com story, "Minnesota Partnership Researchers Close in on Drug to Fight Fungal Infections."
February 2012 Archives
The National Ataxia Foundation awarded Michael A. Walters, ITDD Director of Lead and Probe Discovery, a $100,000 grant for the project "Small Molecule Inhibitors of PKA: A Therapeutic Strategy for SCA 1." The main objective of this work is to discover compounds that can modulate the activity of PKA with the goal of developing a treatment for spinocerebellar ataxia. He also received a $390,690 R21 grant for the project "Development of antl-DUX4 therapeutics for FSHD" from the NIH NINDS. The main objective of this work is to discover, characterize, and develop anti-DUX4/D4Z4 therapeutics to treat facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD).
Drs. Elizabeth Amin, Derek Hook, Barry Finzel, and Michael A. Walters (co-PI) have received a $612,312 grant from the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics for the project "Identification and optimization of small molecular inhibitors of the histone acetyltransferase Rtt109: A novel approach to prevent fungal infection." Collaborators at the Mayo Clinic include Drs. Zhiguo Zhang (co-PI) and Andrew Limper. The primary goal of this work is to discover and characterize inhibitors of Rtt109 that could serve as novel anti-fungal therapeutic agents.
