http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/...ent-stem-cell/

I have some hope. Bravo!

Thanks for posting this article. Just a quick note in support of this study/

This work is being done at the Scripps clinic in San Diego where I get my treatment for PD/ I see Dr. Houser and Gould. I met Dr Loring once and I have been following their work for almost 3 years. This team of cliniciAns + reseachers + patients made scientific concepts into a reality for patients. This may be the closest we have ever come to a good therapeutic for PD with stem cells. All are waiting for human trials and hoping for FDA approvals.
Other interesting things from my point of view are:, this study would have no sham controls, each patient gets his/her own cells, takes advantage of placebo effect ... I cannot wait to see how clnical trials would go.
And, if they join forces with Ceregene. another local biotech with gene therapy for nerve growth factor delivery, we can say goodbye to our friend PD forever..................
I guess I am dreaming now!

This is a thriller. Just the way they are united with the patients is a giant step forward. Girija, it is great that you know them; convey our thanks and gratitude. I guess I can't ask you to kidnap them, but let's encourage them as much as possible

This is very precisely the revolution in research that we need

“The research, funded by the patients and their supporters…” who pays the piper calls the tune

“… restore near-normal movement for a decade or more, and the procedure could be repeated as needed.” Yeah, we could live with that.

“That’s unappealing to drug companies, who want treatments that can be mass-produced…. getting government grants hasn’t been possible…” One huge dinosaur said to another huge dinosaur: where did those little furry animals come from…?

“Patients and other group members evangelize the project in person, by email, and by videos explaining its significance.” Hmmm. No shortage of volunteer fund-raising when the patients are fully part of the entire process.

“..benefit from actually getting to know the people their research is devoted to. It makes the science less abstract and more human. The patients and the researchers feed off each other,” This alone is such radical concept, they should make a study of the study – showing other researchers that they will benefit in their own careers if they team up with the people whose lives they are trying to save. Medicine is science, but it is also an art, and it is always about people. For most of the past 50 years, the last two were chucked out.

“So far, Summit4StemCell hasn’t had any luck getting money from government sources, such as California’s $3 billion stem cell program or the federal National Institutes of Health. One problem is that the approach is still new….” Yeah, wouldn’t you just know that.
Notice how, when it gets real, everybody gets revealed. Big Gov and Big Pharma are not designed to do anything new; or create the future. They are too big to fail and too big to succeed. They don't remember why they came to the dance.

This is all great news and this is hereby declared to be a day of celebration.

thanks for dreaming!!
there has been at least one other documented successful autologous stem cell implant by dr. levesque into one side of dennis turner's brain. i remember watching a senate hearing on adult stem cells, chaired by sam brownback, where dr. levesque testified and turner was there. unfortunately, levesque's research got tied up with investors, etc. and i don't think it he did any more implants. and turner's improvement lasted around 4 years? certainly not criticizing this research, just stating there was a partial? success. and thanks for the ceregene angle, certainly makes one more optimistic.

http://www.leaderu.com/science/stemc...ny_turner.html

This news is so exciting! Thank you Girija for sharing with us your impressions of the Scripp’s clinic. Many PWP have spent countless hours over the last 10+ years, defending and protecting stem cell research and advocating for its funding. Now with the use of IPS cells, the controversy over embryonic stem cell research seems to have died down, and a treatment appears to be close to moving from lab to the clinic . (keeping in mind that the progress with IPS cells depended on knowledge gained from ESCR.) Our gratitude to the brave PWP and researchers who are daring to lead the way. And the fact that patients have all along worked together with the project’s scientists and doctors makes it even sweeter. What can the Parkinson’s community do to help support them re: FDA approval and funding?

May be finally the way to go for all degenerative illness. We can't cheat death, but it is just plain cruel to make people that could be helped from years of unnecessary life burdens, from doing all hat is medically possible, efficient and available to all, to remove these curses which sap humanity's vitality, and ruin individuals lives. How's that for a grammatically incorrect run on sentence! If all goes well, I hope for swift approval, not bogged down by some patent or royalties bs that the enemies of humanitarian progress always seem to bring about to impede progress ' cause it will make their stock interests implode.

The catch is we have to fund this. I better get out the glue gun and start crafting paper tulips to sell along with my cup cakes.

They need $5 million to move forward...can't see it happening with the level of detachment out there in the mainstream PWP world. They only believe in things funded buy a non-profit org.