Columbia University Unveils Stem-Cell Fund

As a result of an $8 million gift from a New York real estate developer, Columbia University will institute a stem-cell research program designed to develop new treatments and therapies for Parkinson's disease (PD) and other neurological disorders. The University announced the gift from Bernard Spitzer in July.

"Our challenge is to optimize the conversion of stem cells into functional, appropriately connected dopamine neurons," emphasized Dr. Stanley Fahn, director of the Center for PD and other Movement Disorders at Columbia, and Scientific Director of the Parkinson's Disease Foundation. "The Spitzer gift will greatly assist us in achieving this goal more quickly."

Stem cells, derived either from early embryos (embryonic stem cells) or from the adult brain (neuronal stem cells), are primitive or "immature" cells that have the potential for developing into functional, appropriately connected dopamine neurons. (See the story on research results at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke also on this page.)

Although they are a promising source of future cell-based therapies, producing adequate numbers of the right kind of cells and the ultimate survival of the replacement cells are problems that scientists need to overcome in order to proceed.

The gift will establish the Bernard and Anne Spitzer Fund for Cell and Genetic Therapy at Columbia and will allow researchers to develop mouse embryonic and neuronal stem cell lines. The experimental process will enable researchers to use cell cultures to characterize the development, function, and survival of stem cell generated dopamine neurons. Using genetically modified mouse models of PD, researchers will be able to perform and study dopamine neuron transplants generated from the mouse stem cells.

Eventually, what researchers learn from the animal models will be translated to humans using human embryonic and neuronal stem cell lines.