Disease Focus: Neurological Disorders
Molecular and Cellular Transitions from ES Cells to Mature Functioning Human Neurons
Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are pluripotent entities, capable of generating a whole-body spectrum of distinct cell types. We have developmental procedures for inducing hESCs to develop into pure populations of human neural stem cells (hNS), a step required for generating authentic mature human neurons. Several protocols have currently been developed to differentiate hESCs to […]
Derivation of Inhibitory Nerve Cells from Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is caused by degeneration of a specific population of dopamine-producing nerve cells in the brain and is chronic, progressive, and incurable. Loss of dopamine-containing cells results in profound physiological disturbances producing tremors, rigidity, and severe deterioration of gate and balance. In the United States, approximately 1.5 million people suffer with PD and […]
Using Human Embryonic Stem Cells to Understand and to Develop New Therapies for Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a progressive incurable disease that robs people of their memory and ability to think and reason. It is emotionally, and sometimes financially devastating to families that must cope when a parent or spouse develops AD. Unfortunately, however, we currently lack an understanding of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) that is sufficient to drive […]
Human Embryonic Stem Cells and Remyelination in a Viral Model of Demyelination
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common neurologic disease affecting young adults under the age of 40 with the majority of MS patients diagnosed in the second or third decade of life. MS is characterized by the gradual loss of the myelin sheath that surrounds and insulates axons that allow for the conduction of nerve […]
Genetic manipulation of human embryonic stem cells and its application in studying CNS development and repair
The advent of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) has offered enormous potential for regenerative medicine and for basic understanding of human biology. On the one hand, hESCs can be turned into many different cell types in culture dish, and specific cell types derived from hESCs offer an almost infinite source for cellular replacement therapies. This […]
Modeling Parkinson’s Disease Using Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the most frequent neurodegenerative movement disorder caused by damage of dopamine-producing nerve cells (DA neuron) in patient brain. The main symptoms of PD are age-dependent tremors (shakiness). There is no cure for PD despite administration of levodopa can help to control symptoms. Most of PD cases are sporadic in the general […]
Gene regulatory mechanisms that control spinal neuron differentiation from hES cells.
More than 600 disorders afflict the nervous system. Common disorders such as stroke, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease and autism are well-known. Many other neurological disorders are rare, known only to the patients and families affected, their doctors and scientists who look to rare disorders for clues to a general understanding of the brain as well as […]
Development of human ES cell lines as a model system for Alzheimer disease drug discovery
Alzheimer disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that currently affects over 4.5 million Americans. By the middle of the century, the prevalence of AD in the USA is projected to almost quadruple. As current therapies do not abate the underlying disease process, it is very likely that AD will continue to be a clinical, […]
New Chemokine-Derived Therapeutics Targeting Stem Cell Migration
This proposal describes a sharply-focused, timely, and rigorous effort to develop new therapies for the treatment of injuries of the Central Nervous System (CNS). The underlying hypothesis for this proposal is that chemokines and their receptors (particularly those involved in inflammatory cascades) actually play important roles in mediating the directed migration of human neural stem […]
Optimization of guidance response in human embryonic stem cell derived midbrain dopaminergic neurons in development and disease
A promising approach to alleviating the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease is to transplant healthy dopaminergic neurons into the brains of these patients. Due to the large number of transplant neurons required for each patient and the difficulty in obtaining these neurons from human tissue, the most viable transplantation strategy will utilize not fetal dopaminergic neurons […]