PACKARD CENTER ANNOUNCES NEW COLLABORATIVE TIES WITH SCOTLAND’S TOP
ALS RESEARCH BODY
Accomplished stem cell researcher is Packard's first grantee with the
MacDonald Centre
http://www.alscenter.org/news/briefs/090409.cfm

Neuroscientist Catherina Becker is the sort of researcher to inspire
optimism in ALS patients and their families, for the possibility of
what's to come.

A scientist with The Euan MacDonald Centre for Motor Neurone Research
at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, she's expert on zebrafish, the
small, fast-growing and transparent animals that are lately the darling
of scientists who try to model neurodegenerative diseases.

She's written texts on spinal cord regeneration and is equally savvy
about the capabilities of stem cells. That combination puts her in a
peak place to study the repair of spinal cords, whether from accident
injury or ALS.

So why are we writing about Becker in a Packard Center e-article?

For one thing, Becker is one of Packard's newest grantees, poised to
describe her work at the Packard Center's 9th Annual Symposium in April.


Zebrafish, she recently found, can create new motor neurons from stem
cells that normally lie dormant in an adult spinal cord. She has hopes
that what she's now uncovering in zebrafish will lead to therapy for ALS
patients.

But also, as one of some 20 ALS researchers at the MacDonald Centre in
Scotland, Becker and her colleagues extend Packard's scientific reach
internationally in a new collaborative way. Now the American and
Scottish organizations are formally research partners.

Packard Director Jeff Rothstein has had his eye on the MacDonald Centre
since it opened in 2007. The two MacDonalds who underwrote the Scottish
organization - Donald MacDonald and son Euan - had consulted with
Rothstein after Euan was diagnosed with ALS.

Thus, a new cross-Atlantic tie was formed. And the fact that the
MacDonald family helped raise funds for the Packard Center strengthened
the bond.

Just as Packard's home base is in a haven of stem cell science at Johns
Hopkins, the MacDonald Centre holds close ties with the University of
Edinburgh's Centre for Neuroregeneration and MRC Centre for Regenerative
Medicine, a facility dedicated to developing useful stem cell lines and
exploring their therapeutic possibilities.

Ian Wilmut, for example, who headed the cloning of Dolly the sheep, is
Director of the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine. He now
investigates ways to tailor stem cells to heighten chances that the
cause of diseases such as ALS will stand out.

Besides Becker's work, her MacDonald - and now Packard - stem cell
colleagues investigate what turns on dormant stem cells. They explore
how stem cells produce specialized motor neurons, which is also a key to
repair.

To get an idea of the breadth of MacDonald Centre research, click onto:
http://www.euanmacdonaldcentre.com/researchers.html


___________________________________

About The Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins
www.alscenter.org

Located in Baltimore, the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at
Johns Hopkins is a worldwide collaboration of scientists aimed at
developing therapies and a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS),
also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

The Center is the only institution of its kind dedicated solely to the
disease. Its research is meant to translate rapidly from the lab bench
to the clinic, largely by eliminating time spent waiting for grants and
lowering institutional barriers to sharing scientific results.

Scientists and clinician members of the Packard Center have moved drugs
reliably and rapidly from preclinical experiments to human trials.
Direct or indirect links to international biotech or pharmaceutical
companies bring the infrastructure and experience needed to make
promising drugs into therapies.

Packard scientists are the first to propose and test a combination
approach to drug therapy, a tactic that has worked for AIDS, cancer and
other diseases.

ALS is a progressive, disabling neuromuscular disease that causes
complete paralysis and loss of function - including the ability to eat,
speak and breathe. ALS progresses quickly and is not curable. Most
patients die within five years of diagnosis.


_________________________________________
Rebecca Berger
Research Program Coordinator
Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins
5801 Smith Avenue | McAuley Suite 110
Baltimore, MD 21209
410.735.7678 direct
410.735.7680 fax
rberger6@jhmi.edu
www.alscenter.org
www.fiesta5K.org