Using Bone Marrow to Protect the Brain Tuesday, September 20,
2011 Stem cell technology from TAU research begins clinical
trial for Lou Gehrig's disease The ability to produce
neuroprotectors, proteins that protect the human brain against
neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and ALS, is the
holy grail of brain research. A technology developed at Tel Aviv
University does just that, and it's now out of the lab and in
hospitals to begin clinical trials with patients suffering from
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's
disease. Developed by Prof. Daniel Offen and Prof. Eldad Melamed
of TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Felsenstein Medical
Research Center, the technology is now a patent-pending process
that takes stem cells from a patient's own bone marrow and
causes them to differentiate into astrocyte-like cells, which
are responsible for the well-being of the brain's neurons. The
cells release neurotrophic factors, or neuroprotectants, which
have been shown to play a key