Dystonia Mini-Moonshot Grant winners

congrats award winners!

Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Dystonia Mini-Moonshot UF Internal Grant competition and thank you to Tyler’s Hope for a Dystonia Cure; program director Aparna Wagle Shukla, M.D.; and the partnership between the McKnight Brain Institute and the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at UF Health.


Basic/Translational Science Awards

Dr. Fumiaki Yokoi and team Assistant professor of neurology UF College of Medicine Project: Targeting globus pallidus parvalbumin-positive neurons in DYT1 dystonia

Dr. Mark Moehle and team Assistant professor of pharmacology UF College of Medicine Project: Expression profile of individual muscarinic receptors in the cerebellum of a mouse model of DYT1 dystonia

Dr. Yuqing Li and team Professor of neurology UF College of Medicine Project: Development of conditional rescue mouse model for DYT1 dystonia


Clinical Science Awards

Dr. Aysegul Gunduz and team Associate professor of biomedical engineering UF College of Medicine Project: Uncovering pathological brain rhythms in dystonia: from biomarkers to effective neuromodulation

Dr. Leonardo Almeida and team Assistant professor of neurology UF College of Medicine Project: The pallido-cortical network and neuromodulatory effects in dystonia

Dr. Coralie De Hemptinne and team Assistant professor of neurology UF College of Medicine Project: Uncovering cortical markers for dystonia with high density EEG recordings and correlation with pallidal and EMG signals

Dr. Ashley Rawls and team Assistant professor of neurology UF College of Medicine Project: Evaluation of vestibular function in patients with cervical dystonia managed with botulinum toxin injections

Dr. Wei Hu and team Assistant professor of neurology UF College of Medicine Project: Effects of low-frequency and interleaved stimulation in dystonia patients with bilateral globus pallidus internus deep brain stimulation