MDA Research Grantee Wins Presidential Award

TUCSON, Ariz., June 28, 2002 — Muscular dystrophy researcher Melissa J. Spencer will receive the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) July 12 in a ceremony at the White House, the Muscular Dystrophy Association announced today.

Spencer is a muscle cell biologist in the Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Research Center in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California at Los Angeles.

The award was commissioned by President Clinton in 1996 as a way to honor yearly the extraordinary achievements of young professionals beginning independent research careers in science and technology.

Eleven federal agencies can nominate candidates for the award, among them the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which nominated Spencer. Approximately 50 people will receive the award this year.

Spencer's MDA-funded research includes work on a protein called calpain 3 that's involved in limb-girdle muscular dystrophy and a clinical trial of the drug albuterol in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Spencer's NIH-funded research includes work on calpain proteins and on the potential role of the immune system in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The award extends Spencer's NIH grant for immune system research to five years from its start date.

MDA is a voluntary health agency working to defeat more than 40 neuromuscular diseases. For more information, go to www.mda.org.