A Wayne State University researcher has won a $418,000 grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health. Graham Parker, assistant professor of research in the Department of Pediatrics, will use the grant to study how a particular gene might be involved in the progression of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the No. 1 genetic killer of children younger than 2 years old. "Although most people have never heard of it, SMA is the most prevalent hereditary motor neuron disease, affecting four to 10 per 100,000 live births, with as many as one in 75 people being carriers of the genetic mutation," Parker said.

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/09/11/wayne-state-researcher-to-study-spinal-muscular-atrophy/
http://www.news-medical.net/news/20110912/WSU-researcher-receives-24418000-NINDS-grant-to-study-spinal-muscular-atrophy.aspx