ISSCR News


New Podcast Episode. Parkinson’s Disease, Cell Therapy, and Exercise
Announcements Megan Koch Announcements Megan Koch

New Podcast Episode. Parkinson’s Disease, Cell Therapy, and Exercise

The potential of pluripotent stem cells and the ability to scale and differentiate them to generate large numbers of enriched cell populations has created new opportunities and approaches to treat human disease. Preclinical proof-of-principle data demonstrates that stem cell-derived neural grafts can be used to reverse symptoms of multiple neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s Disease. Cell grafts enriched with dopaminergic neurons, can structurally and functionally integrate in the brain of Parkinson’s Disease models to reverse motor deficits, a finding which has launched several clinical trials. While the results in animal models is essential proof-of-concept, the survival and integration of these cells is suboptimal compared to treatments from fetal-derived ventral midbrain grafts.  An area of preclinical and clinical research showing promise in influencing neuronal survival and plasticity is exercise. The benefits of exercise on neural function and disease progression have been widely reported and they have also been shown to enhance the survival and integration of transplanted cells in models of some neurological diseases. However, there is limited data on the benefit of exercise on the functional outcomes of neural grafts in Parkinson’s Disease models. The guests on today’s program will discuss their recent study looking at the effect of exercise on cellular engraftment and functional recovery in animal models of Parkinson’s Disease and the implications for clinical outcomes.

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Shared Leadership Delivers Impact
Message from the President Kym Kilbourne Message from the President Kym Kilbourne

Shared Leadership Delivers Impact

For my last Message from the President, I had the opportunity to connect with the Co-Chairs of the ISSCR’s Best Practices for the Development of Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Therapies Jacqueline Barry and Kapil Bharti and the Co-Chairs of the Embryo Models Working Group Amander Clark and Janet Rossant to discuss these strategic initiatives. The Society often assembles members from across the world with specific expertise for short-term projects. These two groups are among them and have produced exceptional work on behalf of the field.  

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Exercise Enhances Stem Cell Transplant Function in Parkinson’s Disease 
Press Release Kym Kilbourne Press Release Kym Kilbourne

Exercise Enhances Stem Cell Transplant Function in Parkinson’s Disease 

A research team led by Clare Parish from The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health (in Melbourne) and Lachlan Thompson from the University of Sydney, Australia has now tested whether exercise enhances transplant function in PD rats. In their study, rats received a stem cell-derived transplant to replace lost dopaminergic neurons and some of the rats were given free access to a running wheel. Their work was recently published in Stem Cell Reports.

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