UMN research team discovers new therapy potential for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
A graphic depicting muscular dystrophy and the polymers discovered to approach treating it.
University of Minnesota researchers developed a new type of therapy using a “bottlebrush polymer,” a highly branched synthetic molecule designed to protect muscle cell membranes from damage. Credit: University of Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (10/21/2025) – An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Minnesota has published new research that could could change the way Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is treated. Regents Professor Timothy Lodge of the Department of Chemistry is a co-author on the paper, published in PNAS.

"Synthetic polymers increasingly serve as key components in modern medicine, especially in implants, prostheses, and delivery vehicles for active pharmaceuticals. Rarely, however, does a polymer prepared from simple monomers act itself in the role of therapeutic agent," Lodge writes. "Even more unusual is the situation where the efficacy of a macromolecular agent rests primarily on its physical properties, as opposed to its chemical functionality. In this work we demonstrate that a simple architectural modification, moving from a linear copolymer to a bottlebrush analog, enhances the treatment efficacy by several orders of magnitude, when administered in a mouse model."

Read the full press release from the College of Science and Engineering.

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