STANDARDISING PROTOCOLS FOR THE DIFFERENTIATION AND INTEGRATION OF HUMAN PLURIPOTENT STEM CELL-DERIVED NEURAL TRANSPLANTS IN PARKINSON'S DISEASE

Abstract

Clinical trials have shown that transplanting dopamine neurons (specific nerve cells) into the brain of Parkinson’s disease patients can improve symptoms. Trials use fetal tissue for implantation, which is unsustainable and highly variable. This proposal will examine stem cells as an alternative. We will establish a reliable protocol to instruct human stem cells to become dopamine neurons, develop methods to select these cells and, examine the integration of these transplanted cells in the brain