The Family-Friendly Poster Session is one of the most anticipated events at the Annual SMA Conference! This year’s session will be held on Friday, June 26, from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm in the Grand Harbor Ballroom at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resort.
The Family Friendly Poster Session is an opportunity for families to ask questions about the research they have participated in and fundraised for, while researchers have the chance to meet the families impacted by their work.
Photo from a previous Family-Friendly Poster Session
At this year’s Family Friendly Poster Session, research highlights will be presented by:
- Staff from Cure SMA’s Development, Research, and Advocacy Teams
One of Cure SMA’s top priorities is to fund, conduct, and direct research that improves treatment and clinical care for everyone living with SMA. Learn about how we are working collectively to raise funds for research, share data from the community, and advocate for the community’s priorities.
- Scientists who have been awarded a Basic Research Grant from Cure SMA
Each year, Cure SMA awards grant funding to scientists from around the world for projects that address specific unanswered questions in SMA biology. Visit their posters to learn more about these exciting projects and how they are shaping our knowledge of SMA and laying the foundation for future therapies.
- Clinical researchers who are members of the Adult & Pediatric Neuromuscular Clinical Research Network (APNCR)
The APNCR is a network of SMA clinical trial sites made up of healthcare providers striving to achieve the best possible clinical outcomes for the SMA community. Cure SMA provides funding for the ANPCR in partnership with the Erin Trainor Memorial Fund. See some of APNCR’s most recent insights into how to optimize SMA treatment and clinical care.
- Researchers from Cure SMA’s pharmaceutical Conference
Cure SMA works alongside pharmaceutical companies to ensure the SMA community's preferences are considered throughout SMA drug development. Come hear about the latest updates in clinical trials.
Below are the 2026 Family Friendly Poster titles and presenters. We look forward to seeing you!
2026 Family Friendly Posters
1. Combination therapies to enhance synaptic function
Allison Ebert, PhD, Medical College of Wisconsin
2. Life's a dance: Too little SMN to pass around
Anton Blatnik, PhD, Case Western Reserve University
3. A post‑approval clinical study of intrathecal onasemnogene abeparvovec in study participants with spinal muscular atrophy
Bakri Elsheikh, MBBS, The Ohio State University, Wexner Medical Center
4. Long-term follow-up data in Zolgensma-treated study participants with spinal muscular atrophy
Carol Welch, RN, BSN, MSCN and Lesley Milliner, BSN, MBA, Novartis
5. STELLAR-1, STELLAR-2, and SOLAR: Phase 3 study designs evaluating salanersen in spinal muscular atrophy
Christabella Cherubino, DC, ScD, MS, Biogen
6. SMA beyond the motor neuron: A study of whole-body treatment effects
Cortnie Hartwig, PhD, MCB Clinical Research Centers
7. Our mission in motion: Building breakthroughs together
Cure SMA Development Team
8. The role of treated muscle in SMA
Elana Molotsky, PhD, Johns Hopkins University
9. Dual therapy for symptomatic SMA newborns with 2 copies of SMN2
Elicia Estrella, MS, LCGC, Boston Children's Hospital
10. Treating SMA before birth: How prenatal treatment changes outcomes
Emma Sutton, PhD, The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
11. Individualizing treatment for babies with SMA detected through newborn screening: One center's experience
Eric Cahue-Gasca, BS, Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
12. The story of apitegromab: Science, progress, and patients
Erik DeBoer, PhD, Scholar Rock, Inc.
13. Key findings from the Cure SMA unmet needs among adults across the healthcare spectrum survey
Erin Welsh, MPH, Cure SMA Research Team
14. Medical emergencies in SMA: Development of a European emergency card template
Federica Fontana, PhD, SMA Europe
15. The adult SMA treatment and research program at The Ohio State University
Gia Cinkay, CCRP, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
16. Manatee Part 1: Roche/Genentech's clinical study of emugrobart (gym329) in combination with risdiplam
Helen Lin, MD, Genentech, Inc., South San Francisco, CA, USA
17. Time to sparkle: The phase 2 study in SMA
Karolien Van Huynegem, PhD, argenx
18. Adult-onset (Type 4) SMA: Insights into early symptoms, diagnosis, and unmet needs
Lauren Eisenman, MS, Cure SMA Research Team
19. Behind the diagnosis - How SMA impacts the lives of caregivers
Laurey Brown, PT, DPT, Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
20. Understanding SMN's role in neuronal RNA dynamics
Licia Corona and Lorina Bilalli, Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine - University of Luxembourg
21. Evaluating the evolving SMA phenotype in children: Results from the Cure SMA Community Update Survey
Lisa Belter, MPH, Cure SMA Research Team
22. Neuromuscular junction recovery following SMN up-regulation in mouse models of SMA
Lyndsay Murray, PhD, University of Edinburgh
23. How SMA community stories helped secure federal research funds
Maynard Friesz and Sarah Bellish, Cure SMA Advocacy Team
24. How does loss of muscle in SMA affect whole body metabolism?
Melissa Bowerman, PhD, Keele University, UK
25. Voices of SMA caregivers: Experiences from across the United States
Ndeye Yague, MS, Cure SMA Research Team
26. Optimizing the pediatric to adult transition process in a patient and family focused way - the CHOP-PENN model
Oscar Mayer, MD, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
27. Learn about the DEVOTE trial and the high dose regimen of Spinraza® (nusinersen)
Puanoa Higginson, MBA, Biogen
28. The SMA effort measures perceived physical fatigability in SMA
Rafael Rodriguez-Torres, PT, DPT, Cara H. Kanner, PT, DPT, EdD, Thomas Corbeil, MPH, Melanie Wall, PhD, and Jacqueline Montes, PT, EdD, Department of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center
29. Bone health in individuals with spinal muscular atrophy who have received disease-modifying therapy
Regina Laine, PNP, MSN, Boston Children's Hospital
30. Emerging treatments in development for patients living with SMA: Insights from clinical specialists
Richard S. Finkel, MD, Center for Experimental Neurotherapeutics, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA
31. Real world experiences of risdiplam treatment: Feeding and swallowing outcomes in the Cure SMA community update survey
Sheila Shapouri, PharmD, MS, Genentech, Inc.
32. Pregnancy outcomes in individuals with SMA: New natural history of pregnancies in the treated SMA population
Shelby Vogt-Domke, B.S., Stanford University
33. Reading RNA to understand SMA: How motor neurons change their messages
Stephen Brown, PhD, Johns Hopkins University
34. An update on ignaseclant (nmd670): An investigational oral therapy enhancing muscle activation to improve strength, endurance, and daily function in adults with SMA
Vera Kiyasova MD, PhD and Dan Brennan, NMD Pharma A/S
35. Targeting mitochondria, the powerhouse in motor neurons, for treating SMA
Zhaofa Xu, Ph.D., Northwestern University and Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago