Over two decades of fundamental research in Parkinson’s disease led by Su-Chun Zhang, MD, PhD, professor of neuroscience and neurology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Waisman investigator, has culminated in the development of a promising stem cell-based treatment for the disease.
Parkinson’s disease
Individualized brain cell grafts reverse Parkinson’s symptoms in monkeys
Grafting neurons grown from monkeys’ own cells into their brains relieved the debilitating movement and depression symptoms associated with Parkinson’s disease, researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison reported today.
Stem cells can repair Parkinson’s-damaged circuits in mouse brains
The mature brain is infamously bad at repairing itself following damage like that caused by trauma or strokes, or from degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s. Stem cells, which are endlessly adaptable, have offered the promise of better neural repair. But the brain’s precisely tuned complexity has stymied the development of clinical treatments.
New initiative to study Parkinson disease
Su-Chun Zhang, MD, PhD, the Steenbock Professor in Behavioral and Neural Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Waisman Center investigator, is part of an interdisciplinary team of researchers selected by the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) initiative to receive $9 million over three years for the “Parkinson5D: Deconstructing Proximal Disease Mechanisms Across Cells, Space and Progression” or PD5D project.
Waisman researchers part of several UW2020 awards
Several research and infrastructure projects featuring Waisman Center researchers as the primary or co-investigator have been selected for the second round of funding through the UW2020
Cell transplant treats Parkinson’s in mice under control of designer drug
A University of Wisconsin—Madison neuroscientist has inserted a genetic switch into nerve cells so a patient can alter their activity by taking designer drugs that would not affect any other cell.
Gift will benefit Waisman Center research on Parkinson’s disease
A gift of $500,000 from George E. Prescott, a member of the Waisman Center’s board of visitors, will benefit the Parkinson’s disease research program at the Waisman Center.
Growth factor shows promise in Parkinson’s patients
By pumping a potent growth factor directly into the human brain, an international team of scientists and surgeons has demonstrated significant remediation of the debilitating symptoms of patients with Parkinson’s disease.
Waisman Center Researchers Receive Grants from Michael J. Fox Foundation
Today in the Wisconsin State Journal an article by the science reporter Ron Seely said that two grants from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research are going to Waisman stem-cell researchers.