Dr. Michael Walters - HealthCanal.com

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."

Dr. Michael Walters - National Ataxia Foundation Grant

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).

MN Partnership for Biotech & Medical Genomics Grant

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.