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Columbia’s Motor Neuron Center engages scientific minds in a translational approach to the study of the motor neuron. By taking new leads and tools from motor neuron biology, and testing and applying them to animal models of disease, as well as to clinical research in people, the Motor Neuron Center will facilitate the speedy transfer of research and preclinical findings to patients in the hope of finding effective therapy for currently incurable motor neuron diseases: spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in children and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in adults. It was established in 2005 and is co-directed by world renowned investigators Darryl DeVivo, MD, Christopher Henderson, Ph.D. and serge Przedborski, M.D., Ph.D.
The Motor Neuron Center will create synergistic, large-scale programs for target discovery and functional analysis in an intellectual, collegial and stimulating environment. Columbia University offers an unparalleled location for this initiative because it currently houses, in close proximity, world-class research and clinical groups. These include scientists engaged in the study of motor neuron development, relevant aspects of stem cell biology and animal models of both ALS and SMA. These scientists work with internationally renowned clinicians experienced in clinical trials for both diseases, eager to feed into their programs the latest findings from basic research and abele to provide advice about the feasibility of therapeutic approaches for humans. Science can help by simplifying the complex situation in the human spinal cord. By purifying motor neurons such as this one and growing them in culture, biologists have learned what keeps motor neurons alive and what makes them die, and have screened potential therapeutic drugs.
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