ARMI’s Muscular Dystrophy campaign

In 2016 ARMI celebrated its first ever crowdfunding campaign, raising much-needed funds for a new piece of equipment called a qPCR machine which would greatly speed up ARMI’s research into Muscular Dystrophy (MD).

The 24 hour crowd funding campaign featured Daniel, who has MD. Daniel came to ARMI for a tour and was kind enough to share his story with us and make the below video.

The campaign was a resounding success, with the target amount needed to buy the machine being reached in two hours.  The crowd funding campaign relied on three generous ‘backers’, who matched every dollar given by the general public.

ARMI received two additional generous gifts during the campaign, the first being from Muscular Dystrophy Australia, who came in once the $10k target was reached with an offer to be a new backer for the campaign until the new target of $15k was reached. The second was received from Bio Molecular Systems, the makers of the qPCR machine, who said if the  $15k was reached, they would donate a second machine to the research group. This was a fantastic success for ARMI, who would now have the use of two machines, and additional funds to buy supplies and resources. Read more about the results of the campaign.

The Currie group is now conducting research into a viable treatment strategy for the debilitating disease.

Opening the vault – public outreach to ARMI

Public outreach and engagement is fundamental to the ongoing success of regenerative medicine research in Australia. To increase engagement, ARMI opened its doors to a public audience in May 2017.