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SUMMARY:Can we ever really repair the brain in Parkinson’s disease with 
 cells? - Professor Roger Barker\, Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair\, Depa
 rtment of Clinical Neurosciences\, Cambridge
DTSTART:20090930T153000Z
DTEND:20090930T160000Z
UID:TALK18702@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Hannah Critchlow
DESCRIPTION:This talk is part of the Cambridge Clinical Neuroscience and M
 ental Health Symposium\, 29th - 30th September 2009 at West Road Concert H
 all. This event is free to attend for cambridge neuroscientists although r
 egistration is required. To register\, and for further information\, pleas
 e visit: http://www.neuroscience.cam.ac.uk/cnmhs/\n\nAbstract: Parkinson
 ’s disease (PD) is a chronic neurodegenerative conditions of the brain t
 hat presents with a range of anormalities including a combination of a mov
 ement disorder with cognitive deficits. The aetiology of  PD is unknown in
  the vast majority of cases\, but the pathology targets the nigrostriatal 
 dopaminergc neurons with the formation of alpha synuclein positive Lewy bo
 dies. As such the disease offers an attractive target for cell based thera
 pies\, with the primary aim (in most cases) being to replace these lost ce
 lls through the implantation of exogenously derived dopaminergic neurons.\
 nThis was originally undertaken in the 1980s using allografted cells deriv
 ed from the developing midbrain and the open label clinical studies that e
 volved out of this work in the 1990s demonstrated that this approach could
  produce striking long term clinical benefits in some individuals. This cl
 inical improvement correlated with evidence of dopaminergic cell survival 
 using functional imaging with PET as well as in some post-mortem studies. 
 However over the last ten years\, two NIH supported double blind placebo c
 ontrolled trials have failed to replicate these benefits and also reported
  significant side-effects- most notably the development of dyskinesias rel
 ating to the grafts.\nWhilst the basis for these dyskinesias has been deba
 ted\, as has the failure of these studies to show benefits\, the growth of
  stem cell sources for brain repair has evolved and with this an expectati
 on that they will translate into treating patients with PD. \nIn this talk
  I will re-examine the reasons as to why the clinical trials using fetal d
 opaminergic cells have failed to produce consistent robust benefits and wh
 at this will mean for the translation of stem cell based therapies to the 
 clinic for PD.\n\n\nBiography: Dr Roger A. Barker is a University Reader i
 n Clinical Neuroscience and Honorary Consultant in Neurology at the Addenb
 rooke’s Hospital.  He trained at Oxford and London and has been in his c
 urrent position for nine years having completed an MRC Clinician Scientist
  Fellowship just prior to this.  His main interests are in the neurodegene
 rative disorders of the nervous system in particular Parkinson’s disease
  and Huntington’s disease.  He combines basic research looking at cell t
 herapies to treat these conditions with clinically based work on defining 
 the natural history and heterogeneity of both Huntington’s disease and P
 arkinson’s disease. He is a member of PDS Research Advisory Panel\, the 
 MRC Stem cell Liaison Committee and is co-editor in chief of the journals 
 ACNR and the Journal of Neurology.\n
LOCATION:West Road Concert Hall
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