Source: Stony Brook University
Date: November 8, 2007
Summary:
Mirjana Maletic-Savatic, M.D., Ph.D., and co-investigators from Stony Brook University Medical Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have discovered a way to image a biomarker of neural stem and progenitor cells (NPCs) in the living human brain. This discovery allows researchers to monitor neurogenesis, the development of nerve tissues. The finding may also prove to be monumental in the diagnosis and treatment of multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, depression, and other disorders of the central nervous system where neurogenesis is disrupted. The investigators are the first in the world to detect NPCs in this way. Their findings are published in the November 9 issue of the journal Science.
