Researchers have discovered the first microRNAs--tiny bits of code that regulate gene activity--linked to each of 10 major degenerative muscular disorders, opening doors to new treatments and a better biological understanding of these debilitating, poorly understood, often untreatable diseases. The study, to be published online this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was led by Iris Eisenberg, PhD, and Louis Kunkel, PhD, director of the Program in Genomics at Children’s Hospital Boston and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
