Posted: March 27, 2011 07:56:46 AM PDT
Summary:
The San Jose Mercury News reports scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have grown cells with traits of Parkinson's disease in a lab:
...Stanford University scientists say they have re-enacted this tragedy in a petri dish -- growing the young neurons from the donated skin cells of Parkinson's patient Genia Brin, the mother of Google co-founder Sergey Brin -- and then watching them sicken and perish. This feat, co-authored in this month's issue of the journal Cell by Stanford's Renee Reijo Pera, could accelerate the search for a cure of the crippling disorder. The research makes it possible, for the first time in medical history, to study the diseased cells and test compounds that might slow or even prevent their development.
