“1 in 2,000 people will face a diagnosis of mitochondrial disease.”
Research
Research for mitochondrial disease is still relatively new in the grand scheme of medical science, the first documented cases of mitochondrial disease having only been professionally discovered in the late 1950s-1960s. What followed was a slow but progressive understanding of mitochondrial disease and also a growing understanding of the complexity, and severity, of such a disease.
Research and funding have been hungrily sought over the years, but we are now in a truly exciting time for research and pioneering developments as more awareness is generating more funding, which in turn allows more research into the desperately needed treatments for mitochondrial sufferers.
The Charlie Gard Foundation is in the first stages of creating and developing relationships with research facilities and mitochondrial experts to begin funding several pioneering projects to help benefit the mito community. We are very passionate about funding projects that will help us to find viable treatments for patients, and also projects that will directly benefit those suffering from mito in the here and now.
Finding new treatments, and one day find a cure, is incredibly important for the future, but we know that those suffering from mito now, also need some hope. Through our new and innovative projects we will endeavour to deliver on our objects of creating a brighter mito future for everyone in the mito community both now and in the future.
Our first project
We are incredibly proud to announce a research grant award to Dr.Caterina Garone for our first major research project. The project aims to discover the mechanism responsible for clinical variability and tissues specificity of mitochondrial depletion disorders and to develop new treatment approaches for mitochondrial dNTP pool unbalance diseases.
Dr. Caterina Garone, expert scientist in the field, has been appointed as a group leader at the Department of Medical and Surgical sciences at University of Bologna with a “Rita Levi Montalcini Program” and will carry on the research project in her Mitochondrial Translational Medicine Laboratory at the Center for Applied Biomedical Research.
Results from the research project will be immediately translated to patients thanks to the mitochondrial clinic of Dr. Garone, the medical board of the Charlie Gard Foundation, and international collaborations. Thus, the project represents a hope for patients around the world!
We wish good luck to Dr.Caterina Garone and to our board members as we embark on this pioneering research project.
For more details please contact: caterina.garone@gmail.com or stephanie@thecharliegardfoundation.org
Did you Know?
Did you Know?
“The first diagnosis of mitochondrial disease was in 1962, but research only began to take place within the last 20 years.”
Did you Know?
Mitochondrial disease can cause symptoms in any organ at any age
Did you Know?
“Many diseases stem from mitochondria dysfunction, including Alzheimers,
Parkinson’s, diabetes and autism.”
Charlie Gard Foundation Research Project
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