Helen M.
Blau,
Ph.D.
Stanford University School of Medicine
Bone Marrow to Brain: Searching for markers of bone marrow stem cells with neurogenic potential
A challenge for the next decade will be to enhance the prospects for the increasing number of elderly
afflicted with debilitating neurological diseases: Parkinson's or stroke. We recently discovered that
adult bone marrow, transplanted into adult recipients, migrates to the brain and adopts neuronal
characteristics. The goal of this proposal is to facilitate therapy by enriching for and enhancing
differentiation of the requisite subset of bone marrow cells. This stem cell approach (adult marrow to
adult brain) has particular advantages: the patient is his own donor, which overcomes problems such as
the immune response, ethical issues, and access to cells.
