Stem cells

We welcome you to a selection of talks from "Stem Cells and CNS Regeneration." We are honored to present to you recognized research leaders who present their current data on neurodegenerative diseases, including but not limited to multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Thank you for participating in this self-study course.

Dr. Song's presentation: New neurons are continuously generated from adult neural stem/progenitor cells (NSCs) residing in the subventricular zone of the lateral ventricles and the subgranular zone of the hippocampal dentate gyrus in all mammals examined, including humans. During active adult neurogenesis, NSCs generate functional neurons through orchestrated steps, including cell proliferation, fate specification, neuronal migration, axonal and dendritic growth, and finally synaptic integration into the existing circuitry. This talk presents the hypothesis that adult neurogenesis may represent, not merely a replacement mechanism for lost neurons, but instead an ongoing developmental process that continuously rejuvenates the mature nervous system by offering expanded capacity of plasticity in response to experience throughout life.

We welcome you to a selection of talks from "Stem Cells and CNS Regeneration." We are honored to present to you recognized research leaders who present their current data on neurodegenerative diseases, including but not limited to multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Thank you for participating in this self-study course.

Dr. Rao's presentation: Unlike most adult stem cell populations, embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can replicate indefinitely while preserving genetic, epigenetic, mitochondrial and functional profiles. ESCs and those adult populations that are pluripotent are thus excellent candidates for introducing targeted genetic modifications in a single population and studying its effect in different cellular contexts. This ability of prolonged self-renewal of stem cells and the ability to differentiate into multiple phenotypes are unique advantages for gene therapy or discovery efforts. This talk reviews recent advances in growing cells, manipulating the ESC genome and early screening efforts.

We welcome you to a selection of talks from "Stem Cells and CNS Regeneration." We are honored to present to you recognized research leaders who present their current data on neurodegenerative diseases, including but not limited to multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Thank you for participating in this self-study course.

Dr. Carmichael's presentation: Stroke induces a proliferative response in the subventricular zone (SVZ) near the lateral ventricle and migration of immature, newly born neurons into areas of damage. Newly born neurons are derived from a neural progenitor in the SVZ that expresses glial fibrillary acidic protein. This migration of newly born neurons to peri-infarct tissues diverts the normal migration of immature neurons to the olfactory bulb. After stroke, newly born immature neurons migrate locally into ischemic tissue of the striatum, and in a long-distance migration to cortex near the infarct. Within the cortex adjacent to the infarct, newly born neurons form a tight physical association with angiogenic blood vessels; and angiogenesis is causally linked to neurogenesis after stroke. Angiopoietin-1 and stromal-derived factor, secreted from angiogenic blood vessels in peri-infarct cortex, serve as tropic cues for the migration of immature neurons from the SVZ. This data characterizes a regenerative response after stroke, and also a unique environment in tissue adjacent to the stroke site: a neurovascular niche in which neurogenesis and angiogenesis are linked through vascular chemokines/growth factors and likely cell guidance molecules. Pharmacological manipulation of this neurovascular niche may provide a mechanism to enhance neural repair after stroke.

We welcome you to a selection of talks from "Stem Cells and CNS Regeneration." We are honored to present to you recognized research leaders who present their current data on neurodegenerative diseases, including but not limited to multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Thank you for participating in this self-study course.

Dr. Steindler's presentation: Studying the nature and behaviors of embryonic, adult, and cancer stem-like cells, simultaneously, provides insights into the roles for these cells during normal and abnormal tissue generation. This talk focuses on studies of cell and molecular interactions, in vitro and in vivo, of embryonic stem cell-derived neural precursor cells (ESNPs), adult hemato- and neuropoietic stem cells, and cancer stem-like cells from a variety of human solid tumors. In all of these situations, culture conditions that mimic particular cell-cell and cell-substrate interactions in vivo have been shown to dramatically affect the proliferation and fate choice of stem/progenitor cells from all of these sources. Novel in vitro systems, relying on cell-substrate interactions, are also used to study the proliferation and fate choice behaviors of tumor-initiating stem-like cells that reveal cell cycle and differentiation behaviors common to both normal and transformed stem/progenitor cells. All of these studies together suggest that there are many similarities in the dynamic behaviors of both normal and cancerous stem and progenitor cells that contribute to lineage diversity in both growth settings.

We welcome you to a selection of talks from "Stem Cells and CNS Regeneration." We are honored to present to you recognized research leaders who present their current data on neurodegenerative diseases, including but not limited to multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Thank you for participating in this self-study course.

Dr. Guha's presentation: Astrocytoma, a subtype of glioma, represents the most frequent primary human CNS tumor. Molecular aberrations can be categorized into those that alter normal growth factor-regulated signaling pathways and those that deregulate cell cycle pathways. Aberrant growth-factor/receptors include Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Receptor (PDGFR), amplification, overexpression and mutations of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) as well as those that primarily mediate invasion (integrins, metalloproteases) and angiogenesis (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor: VEGF, Angiopoietins: Ang). Aberrant primary or secondary activation of several key downstream signaling pathways are also of importance in astrocytomas. The Ras-Raf-MAPK Kinase is activated not due to primary oncogenic Ras mutations, but secondary to downstream signaling from growth factor and cytokine receptor activation. The PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway is also secondarily activated by downstream signals from constitutively activated EGFR mutants, but in a large proportion of GBMs due to primary mutation and/or epigenetic loss of PTEN, a major negative regulator of this signaling pathway. Increasing evidence suggests that elevated cytokine signaling mediated through interleukins and subsequent activation of the Jak-Stat pathway is also of importance in GBMs.

Like majority of cancers, aberrant regulation of cell-cycle and apoptotic pathways are integral in astrocytomas. These include primary mutations and loss of p53 function or p53 expression mediated by MDM2 and p19. In keeping with general principles of cancer biology, that oncogenic drive mediated through primary mutations or aberrant activity of signaling and cell-cycle regulatory pathways by itself does not suffice for full transformation, several alterations in cell-death or apoptotic pathways are also prevalent in GBMs.

We welcome you to a selection of talks from "Stem Cells and CNS Regeneration." We are honored to present to you recognized research leaders who present their current data on neurodegenerative diseases, including but not limited to multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Thank you for participating in this self-study course.

Dr. Noble's presentation: Mark Noble’s research focuses on glial progenitor cells in the adult brain and how stem, progenitor cells and their derivatives might repair brain and spinal cord injury after transplantation. Noble is also interested in understanding diseases where disruptions of normal progenitor cell function lie at the heart of the disease. Noble presents data from developmental and genetic diseases. Noble has also demonstrated that redox state is a central modulator of the balance between self-renewal and differentiation in dividing precursor cells. Because many chemically diverse environmental toxicants are potent pro-oxidants, Noble demonstrates that these toxicants can disrupt precursor cell function at clinically relevant concentrations.