HMS' Kunkel Wins Award For Muscular Dystrophy Reserach

A researcher at Boston's Children's Hospital, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, received the highest scientific award given by the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) earlier this month.

In recognition of his many years of distinguished research in muscular dystrophy, Professor of Pediatrics Louis M. Kunkel was given $10,000 for future research and a glass case from Tiffany & Co. during the organization's Labor Day Telethon hosted by Jerry Lewis.

Kunkel, chief of the Division of Genetics at Children's Hospital, has been studying muscular dystrophy for 18 years. In 1986, his lab cloned the gene for the protein dystrophin, which, when defective, causes Duchenne's muscular dystrophy.

Since then his lab has been investigating how dystrophin functions in both normal and diseased muscle cells. The research has helped scientists develop strategies to replace diseased cells with healthy ones.

In this week's issue of the journal Nature, Kunkel co-authored with Mallinckrodt Professor of Genetics Richard C. Mulligan an article about his recent experiments.

The article, entitled "Dystrophin Expression in the mdx Mouse Restored by Stem Cell Transplantation," describes how Kunkel and his colleagues were able to produce healthy cells in mice afflicted with muscular dystrophy.

Using transplants of stem cells located in the bone marrow of healthy mice, researchers succeeded in getting diseased mice to produce correct versions of dystrophin.

The amounts produced have not yet been enough to produce outward symptoms of improvement, but the research marks a significant advance in the search for a cure for the disease. Scientists hope that in the future, a similar treatment will be used in humans.

At the telethon in Los Angeles, Lewis thanked Kunkel on behalf of the MDA.

"You have our infinite love, respect, and gratitude," Lewis told Kunkel, according to The Boston Globe.

Kunkel said yesterday that his successes over the past two decades would not have been possible without the aid of graduate students.

The money for the award was donated by Sophie Small of Brockton, Mass. in honor of her late husband, Dr. S. Mouchly Small, the Globe article reported.