James Dowling, M.D., Ph.D.
Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg Emerging Scholar
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases and Neurology
Director, Muscular Dystrophy Clinic
Research Aimed at Helping Our Greatest Treasure — Children
Muscle diseases can be devastating to the health and growth of afflicted children. These diseases, called myopathies, can delay the children’s ability to sit, speak and walk. Some remain confined to a wheelchair for life.
James Dowling is beginning to unlock biological mechanisms of one such disease — myotubular myopathy — an inherited disease with severe symptoms whose origins are poorly understood. His team is advancing the understanding of and treatments for myotubular myopathy and other inherited child muscle diseases.
Says Dowling, the Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg Emerging Scholar within the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute, “This [Institute’s] vision of allowing researchers to focus on our work with the goal of saving and improving the lives of our patients has the potential to solve a critical problem for researchers at the University of Michigan.”
He leads a team of researchers in the development of an animal model of disease using zebrafish. They have created a line of zebrafish with unique abnormalities in a section of the muscles called the tubulorecticular system, which is vital for normal muscle contraction.
“Our study is the first to identify a potential mechanism to explain the clinical features of myotubular myopathy,” he says. “From there, we can test out new treatments for this and other similar muscle diseases.”
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Taubman Emerging Scholars Program
Request for applications
Applications are being accepted for the Taubman Institute Emerging Scholars Program.
The applicant must be a junior member of the faculty at the University of Michigan; generally, that means holding an assistant professor title. The applicant must have either an M.D. or an M.D./Ph.D. It is required that candidates both conduct basic research and treat patients.
Applicants should submit a two-to-three page research proposal, as well as a current CV. Priority will be given to proposals involving translational research. Please submit material to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . The deadline is May 7, 2012.
Young Friends host festive NYC fundraiser
Reception introduced scholar candidate Dr. Parag Patil
About 125 supporters of cutting-edge medical research mixed socializing and science May 9 at a cocktail party in Manhattan hosted by the Young Friends of the Taubman Institute's New York City chapter.
The event introduced Dr. Parag Patil, a University of Michigan physician-researcher and a prospective Young Friends Emerging Scholar. Here's a clip from Dr. Patil's appearance on the TV program "The Doctors," where he demonstrates how deep-brain stimulation has helped a patient with Parkinson's disease.
Emerging Scholars are early-career clinician-scientists who show great promise in research aimed at new cures or treatments; through the Taubman Institute, donors support them with three-year grants while their labs earn the credentials to win broader funding support.
The Young Friends event, which raised a significant contribution toward the Emerging Scholars program, was held at the ABC Carpet & Home showrooms at 888 Broadway, Attendees enjoyed cocktails, appetizers, a silent auction and a presentation by Dr. Patil. The silent auction included jewelry, fashion items, a Botox consultation and treatment, Morgan Hotel Group rooms and the opportunity to bid on a meeting and photo with former President William Jefferson Clinton.
Taubman Research
Dr. Max Wicha: Some treatments actually increase cancer stem cells
Avastin and Sutent have been found to increase the growth of breast cancer stem cells in mice, according to Taubman Scholar Dr. Max Wicha, director of the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center.
