Research Interests

My research work has focused on regeneration in the brain, particularly in the aging brain.  A focus on the aging brain is of the highest clinical relevance as most therapies are needed for injuries, such as stroke, or neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease, that become more common with increasing age.  Brain tissue normally has very little regeneration and so presents a particularly hard challenge.  My colleagues and I were the first to report that the human brain contains neural stem cells that can continue to make new neurons in the aged brain.  We were also the first to show that neural stem cells could be obtained from the adult brain, grown in culture dishes, and then transplanted back into adult brain.  This study also demonstrated how hard it will be to develop therapies for the brain as only neural stem cells grafted to certain regions were successfully turned into new nerve cells.  More recently, my lab has determined that it is possible, using gene therapy, to recruit endogenous precursor/stem within the adult brain, including in the aged brain, and get these cells to proliferate.  We are currently working on the signals needed to make these endogenous precursor/stem cells turn into new nerve cells. My lab will continue its brain repair studies as part of the new Center for Regenerative Medicine, but the scope of the Center will be broader and include other types of tissue.

Advances in a variety of biomedical research fields have made possible a new, emerging discipline known as regenerative medicine.  Rather than taking the traditional approach of studying specific disease pathology and looking for ways to stop the disease, regenerative medicine focuses on the healing process itself.  The key component to advancing healing has been better understanding of the endogenous precursor or stem cells that exist in most tissues of the body and are used by the body in the normal healing process with variable amounts of success.  As a multidisciplinary approach, regenerative medicine looks for common aspects of the biology of these precursor/stem cells and investigates innovative ways to expand these cell populations and encourage their integration into the tissue as part of the healing process.  The approaches being used include molecular engineering, gene therapy, and bioengineering technologies.

There are two basic approaches for using precursor/stem cells for regenerative medicine, replacement or recruitment.  In the replacement strategy, a cell population is obtained and grown up in a culture dish for transplantation to the injured tissue.  It is in this context that embryonic stem cells have received so much attention, as these cells can become any cell type (they are multipotent) providing the possibility of being the ultimate “spare part”.  However, obtaining these cells presents ethical challenges and transplanting them to tissue faces problems with possible rejection, tumor formation, and whether or not the cells will contribute to healing as planned.  The second approach, recruitment, is based on the existence of endogenous precursor/stem cells in most tissues in the adult body.  The goal of recruitment strategies is to develop therapies that can mobilize this existing population of rare precursor/stem cells in the body, cause them to proliferate to make enough cells, and then direct them to contribute to the healing process.  This is essentially, helping the body to help itself.  Our Center for Regenerative Medicine will focus on recruitment strategies.

Research Interests

My research work has focused on regeneration in the brain, particularly in the aging brain.  A focus on the aging brain is of the highest clinical relevance as most therapies are needed for injuries, such as stroke, or neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease, that become more common with increasing age.  Brain tissue normally has very little regeneration and so presents a particularly hard challenge.  My colleagues and I were the first to report that the human brain contains neural stem cells that can continue to make new neurons in the aged brain.  We were also the first to show that neural stem cells could be obtained from the adult brain, grown in culture dishes, and then transplanted back into adult brain.  This study also demonstrated how hard it will be to develop therapies for the brain as only neural stem cells grafted to certain regions were successfully turned into new nerve cells.  More recently, my lab has determined that it is possible, using gene therapy, to recruit endogenous precursor/stem within the adult brain, including in the aged brain, and get these cells to proliferate.  We are currently working on the signals needed to make these endogenous precursor/stem cells turn into new nerve cells. My lab will continue its brain repair studies as part of the new Center for Regenerative Medicine, but the scope of the Center will be broader and include other types of tissue.

Advances in a variety of biomedical research fields have made possible a new, emerging discipline known as regenerative medicine.  Rather than taking the traditional approach of studying specific disease pathology and looking for ways to stop the disease, regenerative medicine focuses on the healing process itself.  The key component to advancing healing has been better understanding of the endogenous precursor or stem cells that exist in most tissues of the body and are used by the body in the normal healing process with variable amounts of success.  As a multidisciplinary approach, regenerative medicine looks for common aspects of the biology of these precursor/stem cells and investigates innovative ways to expand these cell populations and encourage their integration into the tissue as part of the healing process.  The approaches being used include molecular engineering, gene therapy, and bioengineering technologies.

There are two basic approaches for using precursor/stem cells for regenerative medicine, replacement or recruitment.  In the replacement strategy, a cell population is obtained and grown up in a culture dish for transplantation to the injured tissue.  It is in this context that embryonic stem cells have received so much attention, as these cells can become any cell type (they are multipotent) providing the possibility of being the ultimate “spare part”.  However, obtaining these cells presents ethical challenges and transplanting them to tissue faces problems with possible rejection, tumor formation, and whether or not the cells will contribute to healing as planned.  The second approach, recruitment, is based on the existence of endogenous precursor/stem cells in most tissues in the adult body.  The goal of recruitment strategies is to develop therapies that can mobilize this existing population of rare precursor/stem cells in the body, cause them to proliferate to make enough cells, and then direct them to contribute to the healing process.  This is essentially, helping the body to help itself.  Our Center for Regenerative Medicine will focus on recruitment strategies.