Faculty

The 23 Center faculty members are from seven clinical and four basic science departments in the Medical School, as well as from clinical and basic science department in the Veterinary School, the College of Biological Sciences and the Institute of Technology.

John W. Day, M.D., Ph.D., Director
johnday@umn.edu

Dr. Day received his M.D. from the University of Minnesota, PhD in cellular neurophysiology from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and neurology training at USCF.  He returned to Minnesota in 1992 to head the Muscle Clinic, attends clinics at both the University and Gillette Medical Centers, and has translational and clinical research programs in muscular dystrophy.  

Laura P.W. Ranum, PhD, Research Director
ranum001@umn.edu

Dr. Ranum is a Professor in the Department of Genetics Cell Biology and Development.  Her research has led to the identification of several human disease genes.  In 2001 her lab discovered the gene for a novel form of muscular dystrophy.   She is now developing animal models to better understand the disease process and to test treatment protocols. 

Atsushi Asakura, PhD
asakura@umn.edu

Dr. Asakura has played an important role in the identification and development of stem cells that have the potential for treating muscular dystrophy.  He is joining Minnesota faculty to play an important role in organizing and extending the University’s stem cell research efforts into the fields of muscular dystrophy and cardiac failure.

Vincent Barnett, PhD
barne014@umn.edu

Dr. Barnett completed his PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Minnesota in 1987 and he has been a faculty member of the Department of Physiology since 1993.  He is a recognized expert on how modification of the proteins essential for muscle activity impacts muscle function.  His understanding of muscle elasticity, contraction and force generation is providing a novel approach towards ameliorating muscle deterioration.

Gregory Beilman, MD
beilm001@umn.edu

Dr. Beilman, a general surgeon, who is interested in the effects of metabolic stress on muscle has studied muscle function and energetics in critically ill patients.  This understanding of muscle energy production and metabolism provides necessary insight into the energy failure that is an aspect of all muscle.

Bianca Conti-Fine, MD, PhD
conti001@umn.edu

Dr. Fine is a neurologist and biochemist who is particularly interested in defining and controlling inflammation, which is a component of all muscle diseases

William Durfee, PhD
wkdurfee@umn.edu

Dr. Durfee works on identifying the mechanical and electrical properties of muscle in response to electrical stimulation, with applications to prosthetic devices and to disease characterization.

Deborah Ferrington, PhD
ferri013@umn.edu

Dr. Ferrington is studying how specific proteins change during the muscle wasting that accompanies aging or inactivity.  The proteins under investigation are those involved in removing damaged proteins from the cell.

Paul Iaizzo, PhD
iaizz001@umn.edu

Dr. Iaizzo, a Professor in the Department of Surgery with joint appointments in Anesthesiology and Physiology, specializes in applied physiology and outcomes research. He is on the graduate faculties in Biomedical Engineering, Neuroscience and Physiology and is also the Director for Education for the Lillehei Heart Institute.

Kelvin Lim, MD
kolim@umn.edu

Dr. Lim is a psychiatrist and neuroimaging researcher who is interested in characterizing the central nervous system aspects of muscular dystrophy, using novel MRI methods available at the Center for Magnetic Resonance Research (cmrr.umn.edu).

Dawn Lowe, PhD
lowex017@umn.edu

Dr. Lowe is studying the effects of muscle training and deterioration in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Linda McLoon, PhD
mcloo001@umn.edu

Dr. McLoon is studying a unique process of myofiber remodeling in mammalian extraocular muscles, in part to understand why these muscles are completely spared in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

James Mickelson, PhD
micke001@umn.edu

Dr. Mickelson is a biochemist and geneticist who has investigated the molecular causes of metabolic failure and abnormal regulation of muscle contractility in a number of genetic disorders of domestic animal species including dogs and horses.

Suraj Muley, MD
muley001@umn.edu

Dr. Muley is one of the primary neuromuscular clinicians at the University who cares for patients with muscular dystrophy.  He has a particular interest in the electrophysiological features of muscle disease.

Gareth Parry, MD
parry001@umn.edu

Dr. Parry is an internally recognized neuromuscular clinician who is one of the principle muscular dystrophy clinicians at the University.  His primary interest is in the Charcot-Marie-Tooth disorders and he serves on the Medical Advisory Board of the CMT Association and is an ad hoc adviser to DMT International.  He is the former head of the Department of Neurology at the University.

Elsa Shapiro, PhD
shapi004@umn.edu

Dr. Shapiro, a pediatric neuropsychologist and former head of Pediatric Neurology, studies the maturation and degeneration of central nervous system function in children with degenerative disorders including muscular dystrophy.

David Thomas, PhD
ddt@umn.edu  

Dr. Thomas is a MERIT Scholar of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Disease, whose primary research focuses on muscle force generation at the single molecular level, using molecular biology and spectroscopic probes.  He has recently applied this technology to explore the molecular basis of muscle degeneration.

LaDora Thompson, PhD
thomp067@umn.edu

Dr. Thompson is a physiologist and physical therapist.  Dr. Thompson’s research is focused on identifying the cellular mechanisms that are involved in age-related and inactivity-induced skeletal muscle weakness.  The long-term goal of her research program is to identify therapeutic interventions to prevent muscle weakness.

Margaret A. Titus, PhD
titus004@umn.edu

Dr. Titus is a biochemist and molecular biologist who investigates molecular aspects of contractile proteins necessary for muscle function.

Stephanie Valberg, PhD
valbe001@umn.edu

Dr. Valberg is a large animal veterinarian who is studying clinical and genetic basis of muscle disorders in horses as well as dietary and pharmacological methods for their treatment.

Catherine Verfaillie, MD
verfa001@umn.edu

Dr. Verfaillie heads the University Stem Cell Institute and has identified a type of stem cell derivable from adult tissue that can differentiate into muscle, providing a clear hope for means to treat muscular dystrophy. 

David Walk, MD
walkx001@umn.edu

Dr. Walk is one of the principal neuromuscular neurologists at the University of Minnesota.  He sees patients with adult-onset muscular dystrophies and myopathies as well as neuropathy and ALS.

Richard Ziegler, PhD.
ziegl002@umn.edu

Dr. Ziegler is a pediatric neuropsychologist who has a specific interest in the developmental and degenerative aspects of central nervous system involvement in both Duchenne and myotonic dystrophies.