# MDSRC Training Core

> **NIH NIH P50** · RESEARCH INST NATIONWIDE CHILDREN'S HOSP · 2024 · $148,896

## Abstract

Abstract
The outstanding training environment in muscle disease pathogenesis and treatment that exists in Columbus,
Ohio at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (NCH) and The Ohio State University (OSU) today is difficult to rival
and arguably unsurpassed in any other city of the world. In addition to being an epicenter for gene therapy of
neuromuscular disease, Columbus is also home to a remarkable number of scientists and clinicians (in the
OSU/NCH Center of Muscle Health and Neuromuscular Diseases) that have for years been providing key
leadership and training for trainees at all levels. Trainees include high school students (NCH Futures Matter
program for underrepresented and underprivileged students); undergraduate/post-bac students (OSU
Discovery PREP program to assist underrepresented minorities in gaining admittance to post-graduate
schools); graduate students and post-docs (a NIH T32 training program at OSU and the NCH Research
Institute Trainee Association, RITA); and early-stage physician scientists at NCH/OSU in Neurology and Gene
Therapy (neuromuscular fellowships). This training milieu in Columbus provided the foundation for the
emergence of the NCH/OSU Myology Course, which was initiated in 2012 under the leadership of Dr. Kevin
Flanigan (overall PI of this Wellstone application), and has been operating yearly ever since. Dr. Flanigan led
a grassroots effort of Muscle Center faculty to develop this program, which accepts approximately 60 trainees
per year for an intensive one-week course that includes morning lectures followed by afternoon wet lab
electives (for PhD trainees) or clinical training (for MDs). To date, more than 700 trainees have attended this
course, with many continuing on to high profile roles in muscle research. Attendees have come from 9
countries and 32 US States, representing >100 different institutions worldwide, including 18 of the top 20 US
Medical Schools), 8 of 8 Ivy League Schools, and several NIH Institutes. This unique Myology Course – and
our efforts to improve and expand it - will be the centerpiece of our Training Core, and we will leverage it and
our Muscle Center to benefit the entire Wellstone community and the greater neuromuscular field. In addition
to the Myology Course, our Specific Aims were also designed to support individualized training of Wellstone
fellows, promote trainee career advancement, recruit the best and brightest minds to the neuromuscular
disease field, and organize new training courses and workshops to benefit the entire Wellstone community as
well as the greater scientific community as a whole.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10992524
- **Project number:** 1P50HD117373-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** RESEARCH INST NATIONWIDE CHILDREN'S HOSP
- **Principal Investigator:** Scott Q Harper
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $148,896
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-15 → 2028-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10992524

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10992524, MDSRC Training Core (1P50HD117373-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-12 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10992524. Licensed CC0.

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