Muscular dystrophy research center to be based in Watertown

A new program devoted to understanding a form of muscular dystrophy and its treatment will open next month, bringing together researchers, patient advocates, and biotech companies.

The Senator Paul Wellstone Research Center for Muscular Dystrophy, funded by a $9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, will be housed at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute in Watertown. Its collaborators include basic and clinical researchers, patient advocates led by Daniel Paul Perez of Bedford, and biotech companies Acceleron Pharma and Genzyme Corp.

Researchers will focus on facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, the second most common form of the muscle-weakening disease in adults, affecting 1 in 20,000 people worldwide. Myotonic is the most common type of muscular dystrophy in adults. There is no cure or treatment for either disabling disease.

The center's projects include finding ways to measure how well experimental therapies work during clinical trials, building a bank of muscle stem cells with and without the disease, and training scientists.

Five other Wellstone Centers, named for the Minnesota senator who died in a plane crash in 2002, have been established since then. All emphasize cooperation among researchers, clinicians, patients, government agencies, and businesses.