Parkinson’s Disease

Small positive step for BlueRock Therapeutics Stem Cell Therapy for Parkinson’s

August 28, 2023 / By / 4 Comments
BlueRock Therapeutics, Parkinson's disease, brain imaging

Several groups including Viviane Tabar who is a founding scientist at BlueRock Therapeutics are moving forward on potential cell therapies for Parkinson’s Disease. BlueRock just released some new data that’s worth a look. Check out the new BlueRock poster. In today’s post, I briefly discuss the new data. I also go into the larger context …

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Parkinson’s disease stem cell therapy research update

October 11, 2022 / By / 1 Comment
Parkinson's disease stem cell therapy

When I first started The Niche more than a dozen years ago, I hoped we’d see a Parkinson’s disease stem cell therapy by now. A proven one. I was a little too optimistic back then. Now in 2022, I know much better how hard translation to the bedside can be in general. Still, I’m hopeful. …

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Recommended reads: CRISPR for Sickle Cell, Parkinson’s, & more

February 1, 2021 / By / Leave a Comment
victoria gray family crispr sickle cell b

I’m playing catch-up on some reading given how busy I’ve been and this includes a groundbreaking NEJM pub on CRISPR for Sickle Cell and Thalassemia. CRISPR for Sickle Cell From December, here’s the key paper in the NEJM: CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing for Sickle Cell Disease and β-Thalassemia. There’s a lot to like about this clinical …

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Stem cell news & pubs: Parkinson’s, Freezing, COVID, & More

February 1, 2021 / By / 7 Comments
Moll-et-al.-effect-of-freezing-on-stem-cells-stem-cell-news-FI

I find following both stem cell news and the stream of interesting publications to be kind of fun and thought-provoking. This past week or two has been very busy. Here is a news summary and list of notable pubs. Stem Cell News on Parkinson’s Disease There were a number of interesting developments on the Parkinson’s …

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IPS cell field update: easy culture, Parkinson’s, scarring, immune cells, & mutations

February 1, 2021 / By / 1 Comment
Fibrosis-model-IPS-cells-Fig-1b-Vijayaraj-et-al-Cell-Reports-2019

Where do things stand today in 2020 with IPS cell research? It’s been 14 years since they were first reported, but they continue to make news. Back in 2006 I was wrapping up my postdoc with Bob Eisenman at The Hutch in Seattle, largely studying Myc, when Shinya Yamanaka published his first induced pluripotent stem …

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Stem cells blast into space: Jeanne Loring on the big launch & project specs

February 1, 2021 / By / 6 Comments
NASA-stem-cells-in-space-project-patch

By Jeanne Loring 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 blast off! It’s good to get out of the lab occasionally to get a different perspective.   Last Thursday, December 5, I got a very different perspective, in Cape Canaveral, Florida, where I got to watch the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft be launched by …

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Hope on Parkinson’s front: Japan IPSC trial 1st patient

February 1, 2021 / By / 2 Comments
Fig-3i-Kikuchi-et-al.-Nature-2017-IPS-cell-Parkinsons-

In Parkinson’s Disease patients develop neurological dysfunction as they lose a special kind of brain cell called dopaminergic (or dopamine) neurons. While a number of different approaches to this disease have been studied for decades, nothing has proven particularly successful in slowing its progression. As a result there has been a big need for novel thinking …

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Lorenz Studer on Day 1 #ISSCR2018: HESC-based therapies for Parkinson’s Disease

February 1, 2021 / By / 2 Comments
GForce_Superhero_logo

One of the highlights of Day 1 of #ISSCR2018 for me so far was the talk by Lorenz Studer (Co-Founder of BlueRock) on the use of human embryonic stem cell (HESC)-derived dopamine neurons for Parkinson’s Disease. Note that for this post and if I have time any others on this meeting, they are probably going …

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Ian Wilmut, who cloned Dolly, opens up about his Parkinson’s Disease

February 1, 2021 / By / 3 Comments
Ian-Wilmut

One of the most famous living biological scientists, Sir Ian Wilmut, just announced that he has Parkinson’s Disease. I wish him the best in dealing with this illness. Wilmut is very well-known for having cloned the first mammal, Dolly the Sheep. This work followed on the earlier breakthrough by Sir John Gurdon of cloning the …

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On the threshold of cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease

February 1, 2021 / By / 7 Comments
Dopamine-neurons-derived-from-a-Parkinsons-disease-patients-iPSCs-Tyrosine-hydroxylase-1

By Jeanne Loring There are ten million people in the world who have Parkinson’s disease. 125,000 of these are living in California.  People with the disease often have to step away from their jobs because the main symptoms – tremor or freezing up of muscles – make it difficult to get through a whole day …

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