In a unique blend of the scientific and civilian worlds, La Jolla scientists are joining forces with the people whose ailments they hope to cure to raise money for some groundbreaking medical advancements. Jeanne Loring, Ph.D., founding director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Scripps Research Institute, and Dr. Melissa Houser, director of the Parkinson\u2019s Disease and Movement Disorders Center and the Deep Brain Stimulation Center, both at Scripps Clinic, are piloting a project they hope will change the face of treatment of Parkinson\u2019s Disease for good. Loring, in charge of Phase I of the project, will reprogram patients\u2019 skin cells into non-embryonic, induced pluripotent stem cells that can self-renew and produce dopaminergic neurons to replace those lost \u2014 even long lost \u2014 through the progression of the disease. In Phase II, Houser will inject the transformed neurons that now have an exact DNA match into her test subjects\u2019 brains, with the goal of a creating a new clinical option to treat the debilitating disorder. The effort, however, is being fought from a different side as well. Three men, all in their 50s and all suffering from Parkinson\u2019s, plan to help the scientists raise money for the research through one big undertaking: climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. On Sept. 8, the three \u2014 along with an entourage of 14 family and friends \u2014 will face the mountain with the objective of funding non-embryonic stem cell research. The climbers will be paying their own way, and, along with the all-volunteer board of advisors with the Summit4StemCell organization and the Parkinson\u2019s Association of San Diego, will help ensure the money raised goes strictly to the research. The obvious challenge of scaling the world\u2019s tallest freestanding mountain \u2014 as well as the increased challenge of doing so with a debilitating disease like Parkinson\u2019s \u2014 doesn\u2019t seem to phase the team. Ken Shreiner, one of the men who suffers from the disease, wrote in a recent statement, “I do it because I need to.” On Aug. 27, Loring and Houser will be on hand at a fundraising event at Fairbanks Ranch Clubhouse (15150 San Dieguito Road in Ranch Santa Fe). Featuring hors d\u2019oeuvres by chef Yealang Smith, wine and a silent auction, the proceeds will go to fund the scientists\u2019 research. For more information, visit www.summ- it4stemcell.org.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a unique blend of the scientific and civilian worlds, La Jolla scientists are joining forces with the people whose ailments they hope to cure to raise money for some groundbreaking medical advancements. Jeanne Loring, Ph.D., founding director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Scripps Research Institute, and Dr. Melissa Houser, director of the […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":269922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"La Jolla scientists move mountains with research","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}