SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--After the overwhelming success of the Jain Foundation Scholarship in its inaugural year, the LGMD Awareness Scholarship program has been extended. Four $3,000 scholarships will be awarded in 2016 to students who teach others about LGMDs (limb-girdle muscular dystrophies). Any student entering an accredited US post-secondary institution including colleges, universities, technical schools, medical schools and graduate programs is eligible to apply.
About 5,000 students applied last year and they spread awareness of LGMDs to over 30,000 people. This year, students will learn about all LGMDs and other muscle diseases with similar symptoms like Pompe, FSHD (Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy) and HIBM (Hereditary inclusion body myopathies). The scholarship focused on a single LGMD subtype last year. By including more diseases and recruiting other rare disease foundations to help advertise it, the scholarship will be even more effective in spreading awareness of these rare diseases.
Students can apply on the foundation website or through an app on the Jain Foundation Facebook page. For more information, visit www.jain-foundation.org/scholarship.
ABOUT LIMB-GIRDLE MUSCULAR DYSTROPHIES (LGMDs)
There are over 30 different types of LGMD, each caused by mutations in a different gene. First symptoms may not appear until after childhood and can include the inability to stand on toes or the inability to get up from the floor without using arms. Individuals with advanced LGMD can lose the ability to walk and lift their arms above their shoulders.
ABOUT THE SUPPORTING FOUNDATIONS
The scholarship is run by the Jain Foundation (www.jain-foundation.org), a privately funded not-for-profit focused on finding therapies for muscular dystrophies caused by dysferlin deficiency (LGMD2B/Miyoshi myopathy). Other foundations supporting the scholarship: Cecil B. Day Family, Inc.; Coalition to Cure Calpain 3; FSH Society; LGMD2D Foundation; LGMD2I Research Fund; Kurt+Peter Foundation; Neuromuscular Disease Foundation; Team Titin.
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