Many scientists use animals to model human diseases. Mice can be obese or display symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Rats get Alzheimer’s and diabetes. But animal models are seldom perfect, and so scientists are looking at a relatively new type of stem cell, called the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPS cell), that can be grown into specialized cells that become useful models for human disease.
David Gamm
A Promising Sight
But the specks in the Petri dishes were the result of years of research in the laboratory of David Gamm, an ophthalmologist at the UW’s Waisman Center. And as members of the Reese family carefully cradled the dishes, they held the future of their descendants’ eyesight in their hands.
Vision scientist Dr. David Gamm to lead UW Eye Research Institute
David Gamm has been selected as director of the University of Wisconsin Eye Research Institute (ERI).
Scientists Produce Eye Structures from Human Blood-Derived Stem Cells
For the first time, scientists at the UW-Madison have made early retina structures containing proliferating neuroretinal progenitor cells using induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells derived from human blood.
David Gamm, MD, PhD, awarded grant for vision research
Waisman Center researcher David M. Gamm, MD, PhD, has been awarded a vision research grant for “The Role of MITF in Early Retinal Fate Determination in Human Embryonic Stem Cells”.
Wisconsin team grows retina cells from skin-derived stem cells
A team of scientists from the School of Medicine and Public Health has successfully grown multiple types of retina cells from two types of stem cells — suggesting a future in which damaged retinas could be repaired by cells grown from the patient’s own skin.