We are working to generate strains of mice in which the degenerative and regenerative phases of muscular dystrophies can be assessed non-invasively, primarily to be used in experimental therapeutic trials. One of the major limitations to the study of therapeutic agents for the treatment of muscular dystrophies such as LGMD2B is the absence of reliable markers of disease activity in the living mouse. We aim to generate strains of mice in which the luciferase gene will be used either to register degeneration (by loss of activity when myofibers die) or regeneration (when muscle progenitors contribute to new myofibers formation), allowing these processes to be monitored by bioluminescence imaging.