Stem cells are at the forefront of biomedical innovation, promising new therapies to repair damaged cells and tissues, promising new technologies for drug discovery and for new diagnostic tools. Our research uses the stem cells that continually replace the sensory nerve cells of the olfactory mucosa, the organ of the sense of smell in the nose. These cells naturally repair the nervous system and are a source of stem cells to repair the brain and spinal cord and a source of stem cells for investigating diseases of the nervous system.
Olfactory stem cells represent a true 'breakthrough' in adult stem cell research. They have the ability to develop into many cell types of the body including cells from brain, heart, muscle, liver and kidney. They are easily accessed via the nose using a local anaesthetic, easily grown in the laboratory making them ideal for large-scale investigations, transplantations and commercial applications.
Stem cell bank
We now have a bank of over 200 adult stem cell lines from different individuals, healthy controls and patients with a nervous system disorder including Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, motor neuron disease, hereditary spastic paraplegia, multiple sclerosis and mitochondrial mutation disease. The growing bank of stem cells is associated with a database of clinical information about the cell donors so that we can relate and compare stem cell biology with disease in each patient. With an accessible source of adult stem cells and the know-how to find, grow, manipulate and preserve them, we are at the forefront of adult stem cell research world-wide.
Our goal is to advance adult stem cell research by:
- Increased understanding of adult stem cell biology;
- Developing technologies for adult stem cell production;
- Applying adult stem cells to understanding the cause of brain and nervous system diseases;
- Applying adult stem cells to preclinical models of nervous system diseases;
- Applying adult stem cells to drug discovery and development.
Diseases and disorders of the brain and spinal cord
Our research addresses several Clinical Themes: Parkinson’s disease, Schizophrenia, Motor Neuron Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia and Spinal Cord Injury which combined, cost Australia more than $4 billion each year in health and social costs, requiring continuing medical treatment and a significant burden on families and carers.
Cell transplantation therapies
Each year about 250 Australians suffer from spinal cord injury. People with spinal cord injuries usually require continuing high-level care for the rest of their lives, and suffer complications that shorten their lives by an average of 22 years. There are no effective treatments to repair the injured spinal cord . A specialised cell from the olfactory mucosa, the olfactory ensheathing cell, has proven therapeutic after transplantation in pre-clinical experiments. With our clinical partners, we have just completed the first clinical trial of olfactory ensheathing cell transplantation in human paraplegia. In addition to spinal cord injury we are undertaking preclinical experiments of transplantation in Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and motor neuron disease patients.
Cellular models of disease
In the same way that breast cancer cells are used to learn about breast cancer, it is possible to use stem cells from people with brain disease to learn about brain disease. We have over 200 adult stem cell lines from people with nervous system disorders and diseases. The advantage of adult stem cells is that they can be grown in quantity for multiple assays and can be differentiated into cells of interest to investigate the effect of disease on the different cells of the brain. These patient-derived, disease-specific cell lines can be compared to identify the gene networks and biochemical pathways that contribute to disease and to investigate gene-environment interactions, such as the role of toxins in the development of brain diseases.
New drugs and diagnostics
Adult stem cells will provide new cellular models of disease. Stem cells from different patients with the same disease can be compared to identify abnormalities common to all patients, including those with known genetic causes and those with no known cause. Cellular pathways that are commonly dysregulated in disease-specific stem cells, or brain cells derived from them, will provide new biomarkers for disease diagnosis and for new targets for drug therapies. Disease-specific stem cells can also be used in the drug development process for assessing the toxicity of new drug candidates and for assessing their efficacy.