Scientists are on the verge of a revolution

Jan 24 2009 By Sam Wood, The Journal

PIONEERING North East scientists are poised with a world breakthrough to repair brain cells damaged by illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease. The experts, from Durham University, have been working for the past five years on developing techniques to transform stem cells into specific cell types and are now ready with a potentially revolutionary process.

Their unique work to create neurons – nerve cells – will provide new tools in the fight against diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s, or stroke victims.

That would provide a financial boost to the region’s economy as businesses linked to research are based here, as well as helping save lives around the world.

Stem cells – the basic building blocks of life – can become any type of tissue, from nerves to skin, hair or muscle, if they are treated in the right way.

These new tissues can then be used to test new drugs and also to repair damaged parts of the body.

The work at Durham University has been focusing on creating nerve cells.

Scientists hope the cells they can create, using a complex chemical processes which they have patented, could help patients whose brains have been damaged through illness.

The new cells could be implanted into the patient or drugs developed, which allow damaged nerves to grow back.

Pharmaceutical companies are also keen to use the technology to test out new drugs, making the research potentially very profitable.

The work could bring any number of benefits, the scientists behind the research said.

Dr Stefan Przyborski said: "When someone suffers a stroke or from Parkinson’s disease their brain cells die. The question is how do you get them to grow back?

"We have developed technology whereby stem cells can be stimulated to become nerve cells. Consequently, these nerve cells could be used to develop new drugs to treat such diseases, or ultimately, to replace the damaged tissue."

His colleague, Prof Todd Marder said: "We are at the forefront of development, what we have produced is more robust than anything else around. We use the most modern methods in the world to make the chemical compounds which cause the stem cells to transform.

"It can not only benefit the North East economy, but more importantly it could be an important step toward delivering on the promise of stem cell technology. What we are doing here is aiming to unleash the potential of stem cell technology. There are a lot of things ready to come to fruition.

"We have filed a patent on the application of a number of compounds in stem cell biology. It is a very exciting time and very rewarding work.

"This is a long term project. We have been at it for five years now and we have made tremendous progress. We are now ready to start marketing our first products.

"The pharmaceutical industry needs new ways of testing drugs, as they are trying to get away from animal testing.

"We are now at the stage of commercialisation and it will be North East companies which can benefit from the sale of these products."

Page 2: The Case Study: Treatment would change lives