Embryonic Stem Cells for the Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease
Ph.D. Qualifying Exam
| This week, I am writing the final portion of my PhD Qualifying Exam for the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Stony Brook University. The topic requests that I develop a source of stem cells which can be delivered into the brain of Parkinson’s disease patients using an engineered biomaterial. Right now, I am doing fairly well on page 25 with about 10 pp left to write. There is a lot still to do. In summary, the project involves creating a new lines of embryonic stem cells from cloned blastocysts generated by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Briefly, SCNT involves removing the genetic material from an unfertilized egg and inserting a donor cell and applying electric voltage inducing parthogenesis - the spontaneous fertilization of embryos. From here, one can dissect the parthogenetic SCNT embryo and extract embryonic stem cells. These can be differentiated into dopaminergic neurons and implanted into the brain. That is the part I’m working on now! |
 |
Tags: · Science, Stem Cells
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
Leave a Comment