Accelerating disease in patient iPS cells using the living brain model of MND & PD.

Patient derived (iPS) stem cells are revolutionising our understanding of Motor Neuron Disease & Parkinson’s Disease.

Aims

We aim to use emerging stem cell and genomics technologies to develop new therapies for patients with Motor Neuron Disease & Parkinson’s disease.

For the first time we can grow neurons identical to the ones in a patient’s brain in the laboratory and use them to understand why the neurons in patients become sick. This project seeks to accelerate the disease process in iPS neurons by transplanting patient neurons into the living brain model of MND and PD. In combination with advanced genomic and transcriptomic analysis we aim to map the molecular mechanisms that drive these diseases for the first time.

This project will employ human stem cells, cell transplantation, molecular biology, transgenic mice and next-generation sequencing (RNAseq & DNAseq).