Dr. Eva L. Feldman
News
Message from the Director
A Vote for Good Health
Michigan elections opens new doors in our quest for treating diseases of the nervous system
It is a new era for medical research in Michigan. State voters, by a healthy margin of 53-47, approved a constitutional amendment lifting restrictions on embryonic stem cell research in the state.
Now University of Michigan scientists can join their colleagues in 45 other states in forming new embryonic stem cell lines to study and treat a wide range of diseases, including ALS, nerve damage arising from diabetes, Alzheimer’s Disease, muscular dystrophies and other neurological disorders.
The timing couldn’t have been better: President Barack Obama has promised to increase federal spending on medical research and to overturn the federal ban on funding new embryonic stem cell lines.
For the Program for Neurology Research & Discovery, this is a major step forward. It gives us the opportunity to do the kind of research we need to understand neurological disease processes and develop successful treatments.
Our initial experiments with embryonic stem cells are promising. We have injected neural stem cells into animals with ALS and observed considerable improvement in their disease.
The new freedom to conduct stem cell experiments in Michigan will accelerate our work, hopefully bringing us closer to the day that we can try new therapies on human patients.
Stem cells are only one area where we are making remarkable progress in the laboratory. We are also:
Developing gene therapy to carry ALS-fighting genes to patients’ nervous systems.
Fast-tracking new therapies to counteract the damage diabetes inflicts on nerve cells.
Creating novel animal models to further our understanding of a variety of childhood muscle diseases.
At the Program for Neurology Research & Discovery, we continue to push the envelope of medical knowledge. The 30 medical scientists who work with me in the laboratory are dedicated to applying the latest ideas in neurological science with the ultimate goal of curing disease.
I invite you to keep up with developments by visiting our Web site: www.pnrd.umich.edu, or downloading our newsletter(pdf). Call us with your questions, or see science in action by scheduling a tour.
We truly believe we are on the threshold of great breakthroughs in medicine. We hope you will join us on the journey.
Eva L. Feldman, M.D., Ph.D.
Russell N. DeJong Professor of Neurology
Director, Program for Neurology Research & Discovery
