Advancing knowledge of human development, developmental disabilities, and neurodegenerative diseases.
Using neural stem cells derived from the fetal brains of rats, a team of Wisconsin scientists has devised a rudimentary blood-brain barrier in the lab.
Unveiling a delivery method that may one day help surgeons treat the deadly neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), researchers at the UW-Madison have inserted engineered human stem cells into the spinal cords of ALS-afflicted rats.
After years of trial and error, scientists have coaxed human embryonic stem cells to become spinal motor neurons, critical nervous system pathways that relay messages from the brain to the rest of the body.
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.
UW-Madison scientist and brainiac Su-Chun Zhang has raised the stakes -- and astonished the world -- by proving it's possible to grow the healthy brain cells that could one day repair damage caused by everything from strokes to disease to spinal cord injuries. When UW wins the race to cure chronic diseases, he and James Thomson will be crossing the finish line together."
