Foundation News

NEW YORK, NY AND AUSTIN, TX – January 19, 2011 – The Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Foundation and Rules-Based Medicine, Inc. (RBM) announced today that they have reached the first milestone in a program to develop a panel of plasma protein biomarkers for SMA using RBM’s Multi-Analyte Profiling (MAP) technology platform. In this collaboration, RBM…

Are you between the ages of 8 and 50 and diagnosed with SMA Type III? Are you interested in exercise and the effect it has on your body? The Columbia University SMA Clinical Research Center is conducting an 18 month trial of the effects of cardiovascular and strengthening exercise on individuals with SMA Type III.…

Notice Number: NOT-NS-11-005 Key Dates Release Date: December 7, 2010 Issued by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Purpose The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) will hold a pre-application meeting regarding the Request for Applications (RFA) for Clinical Research Sites for the Network of Excellence in Neuroscience Clinical Trials (RFA-NS-11-008),…

Dear Families, Thank you for all you have done to increase awareness and attention towards Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). As most of you are aware, this has been an eventful year in the U.S. Congress; national health care and research priorities have been prominent on the radar screens of lawmakers. The significant visibility that you…

The Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Foundation is pleased to announce that Enzo Life Sciences Inc. has become its lead partner in the development and distribution of a limited quantity of newly developed assay kits designed to measure Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) protein, the critical protein that is deficient in Spinal Muscular Atrophy. The kit is…

Working with Columbia Technology Ventures, a team of individuals ranging from professors at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons to undergraduate students at Columbia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science has developed a device meant to improve arm function in patients with SMA. The GNO is a sling-like mechanism that may make it possible…

The Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Foundation and Assay Designs, Inc. are pleased to announce the release of a limited quantity of newly developed assay kits designed to measure Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) protein, the critical protein that is deficient in Spinal Muscular Atrophy. The Assay Designs® SMN (human) Enzyme Immunometric Assay (EIA) kit is a…

The Coriell Institute for Medical Research is a not-for-profit research organization “dedicated to understanding human genetic diseases and providing the highest quality genetic resources”. Coriell houses the world’s largest biorepository of cell cultures and offers medical researchers from around the world access to these patient cell lines for study of disease genes, use in screening…

NEW YORK, NY – March 25, 2010 – The Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the development of a treatment for SMA, is pleased to announce the completion of a pilot study to identify Biomarkers for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (BforSMA) and the discovery of over 400 candidate biomarkers. Next steps…

The SMA Foundation congratulates Families of SMA and Repligen Corporation on the announcement of a licensing deal for the development of new compounds for the treatment of SMA. This marks a welcome new stage of advancement in SMA therapeutics development – and a clear demonstration of the value of non-profit drug development activities. For more…