NIH awards $6.8 million for stem
cell neural-development project
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (Oct. 16, 2006) — The National
Institutes of Health has awarded a team of researchers
from Whitehead Institute, MIT and Columbia University
$6.8 million for analyzing the process by which embryonic
stem cells develop into neurons. Understanding of the
earliest stages of neural development may lead to more
effective methods of treating a host of neurodegenerative
diseases for which current therapies are limited.
“Our goal is to take the entire neurogenesis
process apart so that we can understand the key molecular
components,” says MIT computational biologist
David
Gifford, who is also an Affiliate Member of Whitehead
Institute.
“This project will likely have important
clinical relevance in understanding the genetic
basis of diseases of the motor neurons,”
says Thomas Jessell of Columbia University. |
In addition to Gifford, lead investigator on the project,
participants include Rudolf
Jaenisch and Richard
Young from Whitehead Institute; and Thomas Jessell,
Hynek Wichterle, Christopher Henderson and Umrao Monani
from Columbia University. While Whitehead scientists
are experts in stem cell biology and in high-throughput
methods for capturing genomic data, the Columbia team
specializes in neural development. Gifford’s lab
will create the computational tools for analyzing the
data.
This five-year project will be divided in three components.
First, Columbia researchers will identify groups of
regulatory proteins, called transcription factors, that
are unique to motor neuron identity. Next, the Whitehead
team will use microarray technologies developed in the
Young lab to identify the regulatory circuitry that
is controlled by these transcription factors in both
human and mouse embryonic stem cells, characterizing
changes in these networks as the cells develop into
motor neurons. The MIT group then will use these data
to build a computer model of the gene activity that
drives neural development, a model that the Whitehead
and Columbia teams can subsequently verify with further
laboratory experiments.
One component of this project will involve creating
cells that are affected with the neurodegenerative condition
spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), comparing them to normal
cells in order to determine differences in gene expression
patterns.
According to Gifford, “Even though we're using
SMA as a model, we are hopeful this will yield clues
for other neurodegenerative diseases,” such as
ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), and even spinal cord
injuries.
“I'm looking forward to working with this talented
team,” says Young, who has long-standing collaborations
with both Gifford and Jaenisch. “The Columbia
University scientists have created the foundation for
understanding the key steps in motor neuron development.
This collaboration should further extend our understanding
of this important area of neurobiology.”
“This project will likely have important clinical
relevance in understanding the genetic basis of diseases
of the motor neurons,” says Columbia’s Jessell.
He and Wichterle were among the first scientists to
successfully coax embryonic stem cells into forming
motor neurons. “So far these diseases have been
hard to understand because of our sketchy information
on the normal molecular profile of motor neurons. We
plan to change that.”
For detailed information on this project, visit http://www.stemcell.mit.edu/
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