Defining the Future - Stem Cell Initiative

Columbia University Medical Center is a premier stem cell research institution. The university’s unparalleled track record in neuroscience, developmental biology, and cell replacement therapy places Columbia in an ideal position to advance this emerging field.

Stem cell research has the potential to revolutionize the practice of medicine, offering hope for restoration to patients affected by disabling diseases such as stroke, Parkinson's, and spinal cord injury.

Columbia has launched a $50 million initiative to further its leadership role and ensure that its researchers have all the resources necessary to fully realize the promise of stem cells. The university has already raised $25 million and now seeks to raise another $25 million to expand its stem cell initiative.

Latest Discoveries by CUMC Stem Cell Researchers:

• Discovered that antidepressants stimulate the formation of new brain cells from a reservoir of stem cells located in the adult brain
  Potential application: new treatments against depression



• Transformed stem cells into the nerve cells that make muscles move -- motor neurons
  Potential application: replacement of motor neurons destroyed in neurodegenerative disorders like Lou Gehrig's disease



• Expanded and activated stem and immune cells for cellular therapy in patients with leukemia, lymphoma and solid tumors
  Potential application: Stem and immune cell transplantation for children and adults with acute leukemia, lymphoma, and Hodgkin's Disease



• Found a gene that destroys specific brain cells and causes Parkinson's disease. In this case, researchers used stem cells as a research tool to mimic the cell degeneration process
  Potential application: new treatments against Parkinson's



• Demonstrated that embryonic stem cells can differentiate into light-sensing neurons
  Potential application: treatments for macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa and allied disorders



• Developed a gene and cell therapy to help pace the heart, using adult stem cells and genes involved in the heartbeat mechanism
  Potential application: development of a biological pacemaker



• Designed a method that induces the cells lining the internal and external surfaces of the body - epithelial cells - to become skin stem cells
  Potential application: treatments of life-threatening skin disorders