Dongsheng Duan Editor

Dongsheng Duan, Ph.D., is the Margaret Proctor Mulligan Professor in Medical Research, at the Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology, Neurology, Bioengineering, and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Missouri.  He received his medical degree from the West China University of Medical Science, Chengdu, China in 1987 and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA in 1997.  His research in last two decades has focused on the development of adeno-associated virus as a gene therapy vector, pathogenic mechanisms of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, dystrophin biology and preclinical gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy in murine and canine models.

Jerry R Mendell, M.D. is the Curran-Peters Research Chair and Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology. His career has been devoted to translational clinical science, beginning as a post doctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health.  His life-long focus has been to make a difference in lives burdened with untreatable neuromuscular disease. He has contributed significantly to the muscular dystrophies and spinal muscular atrophy, at first using pharmaceutical tools and since 1999, the time of his first gene therapy trial, he has been dedicated to the successful replacement of mutant genes that undermine the lives of innocent victims.