Congratulations to Spencer Hauck on receiving the Ohio State University/Nationwide Children's Hospital Center for Muscle Health and Neuromuscular Disorders T32 Fellowship for 2017.

Spencer Hauck and members of the Jill Rafael-Fortney laboratory are studying a nuclear hormone receptor (mineralocorticoid receptor) in the context of muscular dystrophy. The group has shown that drugs that inactivate (antagonize) the mineralocorticoid receptor lessen the cardiac and skeletal muscular dystrophy phenotype in mice and the cardiac phenotype in Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients. They have generated the first skeletal muscle mineralocorticoid receptor conditional knockout on the Duchenne muscular dystrophy mouse background. They will analyze respiratory and limb muscles of muscular dystrophy mice to determine which skeletal muscles benefit from the knockout. The results of this study may be used to promote mineralocorticoid antagonist treatment for muscular dystrophy patients and/or identify potential limitations of the treatment. In vitro they are investigating mineralocorticoid receptor responsive extracellular matrix proteins secreted from muscle that enhance fibroblast fibrotic activity. This experiment may shed light on the microenvironment interaction between muscle fibers and fibroblasts in muscular dystrophy.