Five years closer to a cure
W.M. Keck Center celebrates its fifth anniversary
Archived article from Oct 7, 2002
By Joseph Blumberg
Dr. Wise Young came to Rutgers in 1997 and immediately launched the Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, assembling a coterie of dedicated researchers for the Spinal Cord Injury Project. The center, in 1999 renamed the W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, is observing its five-year anniversary Oct. 18 with a special celebration, "Betting on a Cure," from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the center. The evening will feature games, raffles and prizes, including the opportunity to have a summer research scholarship named after a lucky winner, and the music of composer and performer "Daniel J." whose brother David suffered a spinal cord injury. For more information, call ext. 5-2061.
"This is really a celebration of the efforts of all our faculty, staff and students who have brought us five years closer to a cure for spinal cord injury," said Young, who is recognized as one of the world's outstanding neuroscientists and, in August 2001, was named by Time magazine as "America's Best" in the field of spinal cord injury research.
Before coming to Rutgers, Young was part of the team that discovered and established high-dose methylprednisolone as the first effective therapy for spinal cord injuries. That 1990 work upended conventional wisdom that such injuries led to permanent damage, refocused research and opened new vistas of hope for the quarter-million Americans paralyzed by an injury to the spinal cord.
In the 10,000-square-foot, $3.2 million Keck Center on the Busch campus, experts in molecular and cellular biology, physiology and pharmacology collaborate with more than 60 other laboratories worldwide in the quest for a cure.
The primary problem for these scientists is that the nerves in the spinal cord, unlike cells elsewhere in the body, do not grow back after injury. In a complex research process comprising many small steps, Rutgers researchers are investigating the most promising therapies aimed at regenerating nerve cells and restoring function. Here are some examples of the research being conducted by scientists working with Young.
Martin Grumet
Professor Martin Grumet is pursuing several paths, all of which show promise in getting spinal cord nerves to regenerate and knit back together.
For 20 years, he has been working with some curious proteins found on the surfaces of cells. These proteins, called cell adhesion molecules, protrude from the cell surface and latch onto other cells, connecting them together. They also help direct the paths of nerve cells as they grow in the developing fetus, promoting and guiding the growth of the nervous system from the spinal cord to the muscles.
Perhaps, Grumet conjectures, these proteins could be used to promote nerve cell regeneration in an adult's injured spinal cord. To test his theory, his research team at the Keck Center injected one type of cell adhesion molecule into injured spinal cord tissue. Their initial results indicate some improvement in muscle function beyond the injury site.
"We are not quite sure how this is happening," says Grumet. "We think that the cell adhesion molecules may be doing two things at once." First, they are promoting nerve cell growth. But another factor may also come into play. Grumet explains that when an injury occurs, the surrounding tissues release substances that slow or stop nerve regeneration. He has discovered, however, that at least one of the cell adhesion molecules can neutralize these inhibitors. "We are hoping that with future experiments we can show how and why this one-two punch is working," he says.
Grumet is also working with stem cells, fetal cells that are key during the earliest stages of development and then nearly disappear from the body. Specifically, the stem cells he is studying guide immature nerve cells as they migrate up from the inner layer of the brain to the outer layer. These interesting cells also have the ability to transform themselves into neurons.
"We have found that when we inject these fetal stem cells into the spinal cord of an injured adult lab animal, the cells migrate beautifully," says Grumet. "Instead of stopping when they reach the injured area, these cells actually form a bridge across the site. Our hope is that the stem cells can direct neurons across the bridge they have built and connect regenerated nerves to their targets."
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