The Svendsen Laboratory
Faculty > Clive N. Svendsen
Clive N. Svendsen
Professor, Anatomy & Neurology
cnsvendsen@wisc.edu
Organ System/Disease Focus
Parkinson’s disease, ALS, Huntington’s disease, Down syndrome
Aligned Research Focus
Genome arrays, disease modeling, aging
Research Description
The Svendsen Laboratory focuses on the growth and differentiation of human neural stem cells derived from either fetal tissues or pluripotent stem cells. The work falls into two main categories.
On the basic science front, we are interested in better defining human neural stem cells through exploring their potential for both proliferation and their capacity to generate astrocytes, neurons and oligodendrocytes following differentiation. We are also generating induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from patient tissues (Ebert et al, 2008) or modifying the cells to express genes involved with specific diseases (Scheider et al, 2007) in order to provide a cellular source for modeling and drug screening (Jackel et al, 2004).
On the translational front, we have shown that neural stem cells derived from fetal tissues can survive transplantation into a variety of disease models. While replacement of neurons in the brain may be difficult (Svendsen, 2008), astrocyte replacement may have significant effects on neuronal survival in models of degenerative disease. Using the latest gene therapy methods, the lab is currently modifying human neural stem cells to release growth factors such as GDNF prior to transplantation and differentiation into astrocytes (Suzuki and Svendsen, 2008). This should provide a powerful combination to prevent degeneration in a number of different neurodegenerative conditions including Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, ALS, retinal degeneration and stroke.
Selected References
Jakel RJ, Schneider BL and Svendsen CN. (2004) Modeling neurodegenerative diseases using human neural stem cells. Nature Reviews Genetics; 5: 1-8.
Schneider B, Seehus C, Capowski E, Aebischer P, Zhang SC and Svendsen CN. (2007) Over-expression of alpha synuclein in progenitors generated from human fetal brain tissue and embryonic stem cells leads to specific changes in fate and differentiation. Human Molecular Genetics 16: 651-666.
Suzuki M, McHugh J, Tork C, Shelley S, Hayes A, Bellantuono I, Aebischer P and Svendsen CN. (2008) Direct muscle delivery of GDNF with human mesenchymal stem cells improves motor neuron survival and function in a rat model of familial ALS. Molecular Therapy 16: 2002-2010
Suzuki M and Svendsen CN. (2008) Combining growth factor and stem cell therapy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Trends Neurosci. 31: 192-8.
Svendsen CN. (2008) Stem cells and Parkinson’s disease: towards a treatment not a cure. Cell StemCell 2: 412-3.
Ebert AD, Yu J, Rose F, Mattis VB, Lorson CL, Thomson JA and Svendsen CN. (2008) Induced pluripotent stem cells from a spinal muscular atrophy patient. Nature. December (epub ahead of print)