Tuszynski is also director of the Center for Neural Repair at UCSD and a neurologist with the UCSD Alzheimer ™s Disease Research Center (ADRC) and San Diego Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Co-authors of the AAN abstract, in addition to Tuszynski, are Leon Thal, M.D., UCSD chair of neurosciences and director of the UCSD ADRC; Mary Margaret Pay, R.N. of the UCSD ADRC; Hoi-Sang U, UCSD professor of surgery; Roy Bakay, M.D., neurosurgeon at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago; John Alksne, M.D. UCSD professor of surgery; David Salmon, Ph.D., UCSD professor of neurosciences and member of the ADRC; Gilbert Ho, M.D., Assistant Professor of Neurosciences at UCSD: G. Tong, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Neurosciences at UCSD; Armin Blesch, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Neurosciences at UCSD; Lee Vahlsing , M.S., specialist at UCSD; James Connor, Ph.D., Project Scientist at UCSD; S. Potkin, M.D., Professor of Neurology at UC Irvine; and Christine Gall, M.D., Professor of Neurobiology at UC Irvine.

This work was supported by the Shiley Family Foundation and The Institute for the Study of Aging in New York.

A new Phase I/II study, using direct NGF gene delivery to the brain thereby eliminating the need for grafting cells, will be led by David Bennett, M.D., neurologist and director of the Rush University Alzheimer ™s Disease Center, and Zoe Arvanitakis, M.D., neurologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Additional sites will be enrolled as subsequent phases of the trial proceed, sponsored by Ceregene, Inc., a San Diego-based biotechnology company. Dr. Roy Bakay, a Rush University Medical Center neurosurgeon, will perform the surgery.  Bakay, an experienced neurosurgeon in performing stereotactic injection, participated in some of the UCSD surgeries.

The University of California holds the patent to this technology. The exclusive world-wide licensee is Ceregene, Inc. a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of gene therapies for neurological disorders including Alzheimer ™s disease, Parkinson ™s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Ceregene was launched in January 2001 and is a majority-owned subsidiary of Cell Genesys, Inc. (Nasdaq: CEGE), which is headquartered in South San Francisco, CA. The University of California and some of its investigators have a financial interest in Ceregene.

News Media ContactLeslie Franz619-543-6163lfranzucsd

UCSD Health Sciences Communications HealthBeat: health.ucsd/news/