MIBB Networking Lunch in Grand Rapids
with Dr. Eva Feldman 

Join MIBB for a special networking lunch

Monday, November 12, 2012

12:00 - 1:30 pm

at the Van Andel Institute

  U-M and Hadassah:  Engineering stem cells
to decode a deadly disease

 with guest speaker

Dr. Eva Feldman

Russel N. DeJong Professor of Neurology and
A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute Director

 

Dr. Feldman is engaged in a groundbreaking collaboration with another stem cell pioneer,  Benjamin E. Reubinoff, M.D., Ph.D., of Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem. Their goal is to develop human tissue containing the genetic defects for ALS, by employing harmless viruses to infect embryonic stem cells with genetic material that they believe will recreate the conditions of the neurological disease. At the same time, they will reprogram skin cells from patients with the familial ( or genetic) form of ALS back to an embryonic state. They will then study these stem cell lines to determine if they resemble each other and whether they express the pathology seen in ALS patients. If successful, for the first time medical scientists will have reliable human cell models of ALS to test new therapies on.

 In her own work, Dr. Feldman is on the forefront of applying stem cell research to human disease. Most notably she is the Principal Investigator of the first clinical trial of intraspinal transplantation of stem cells in patients with ALS.

In addition to running an active clinical practice at the University of Michigan, Dr. Feldman directs a team of 30 scientists who collaborate to understand and find new treatments for a wide variety of neurological diseases, including ALS, diabetic neuropathy, Alzheimer's disease, and muscular dystrophies.

 

Co-Sponsored by:

                          

If you would like information on co-sponsoring this program please contact MIBB at info@michiganisrael.com or by calling 248-642-1701.

 

Register Now!