Migraine Research Foundation Announces 2011 Grants

January 11th, 2012 - Posted by Migraine Research Foundation

New York, NY – The Migraine Research Foundation (MRF), a nonprofit devoted to funding ground-breaking research into the causes and better treatments of migraine disease, today announced its 2011 grant awards. The four grants were selected from 34 proposals submitted from around the world.

This year’s grantees will explore innovative inquiries in the areas of chronic migraine treatment, genetic sequencing and basic science. In addition to these research projects, MRF has awarded a grant to award-winning filmmakers Jacki Ochs and Susanna Styron to help fund their feature-length documentary, The Migraine Project. “We are thrilled with the caliber of these projects. They all represent innovative approaches to unraveling the mysteries of migraine in different ways,” said Cathy Glaser, President of MRF. “MRF has a tradition of awarding grants to some of the most promising investigators – and we know they’re going to make a difference in the lives of millions of migraine sufferers.”

Migraine affects 36 million Americans – 1 in 4 families, including 10% of all school-age children. And 14 million experience headaches on a near-daily basis. U.S. employers lose about $13 billion a year from lost work days. Despite being one of the world’s most disabling diseases with devastating social and economic consequences, migraine remains misunderstood, and research is woefully underfunded.

The MRF grant recipients and their projects are:

Andrea Antal, PhD and Walter Paulus, MD, Georg-August University, Göttingen, Germany
Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation for the Acute Treatment of Migraine

F. Michael Cutrer, MD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
Whole Exome Sequencing as a Strategy for Gene Discovery in a Large Well Characterized Family with Migraine

Michael S. Gold, PhD, University of Pittsburgh, PA
Calcium Activated Chloride Channels as a Novel Target for the Treatment of Migraine

Jacki Ochs and Susanna Styron, Human Arts Association, NY, NY
The Migraine Project, a feature length documentary designed to increase awareness and understanding of migraine for a world-wide audience

“This year’s recipients continue to demonstrate the highly innovative thinking MRF encourages. The medical community is grateful to the Foundation and the investigators it supports,” said Dr. Joel Saper, founder of the Michigan Headache & Neurological Institute, Ann Arbor, MI, and Chair of MRF’s Medical Advisory Board.

In addition to Dr. Saper, MRF’s Medical Advisory Board of distinguished scientists includes Sheena Aurora, MD, Swedish Pain and Headache Center, Seattle, WA; Rami Burstein, PhD, Harvard University, Boston, MA; Andrew Charles, MD, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; F. Michael Cutrer, MD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN; Fred Freitag, DO, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, TX; Peter J. Goadsby, MD, PhD, DSc, University of California at San Francisco; Andrew Hershey, MD, PhD, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center; Richard B. Lipton, MD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY; Todd Schwedt, MD, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; Gretchen Tietjen, MD, University of Toledo; Linda Watkins, PhD, University of Colorado at Boulder; David W. Dodick, MD, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ (Emeritus); and Stephen D. Silberstein, MD, Jefferson University Headache Center, Philadelphia, PA (Emeritus).

About the Migraine Research Foundation
The Migraine Research Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to ending the debilitating pain of migraine by assisting sufferers and funding research into its causes and better treatment options. Information about MRF and how to contribute can be found at www.migraineresearchfoundation.org.