Del E. Webb Neuroscience, Aging and Stem Cell Research Center (NASCR)

Stuart Lipton, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor and Director

In 1999, the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute dedicated the Del E. Webb Center for Neuroscience and Aging Research. The mission was soon expanded to include Stem Cells/Regenerative Biology for therapeutic purposes in the areas of neurology, cardiology, and endocrinology (principally diabetes mellitus). The rationale for creating this new Center was to exploit scientific synergy with the Institute’s Cancer Center to meet exceptional clinical needs, for which currently available treatments are inadequate or lacking entirely. For example, studies of why treatment-resistant cancer cells are so difficult to kill resulted in discovery of anti-death genes, which are now being exploited for protecting the brain. Similarly, infidelity in maintenance of the genome (DNA) is associated with increased risk of cancer and early-onset neurodegeneration, suggesting commonality of mechanisms. Indeed, both cancer and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's are diseases of aging, which most of us will contract if we live long enough.

As individuals beyond 60 years of age comprise the fastest growing segment of our population, diseases associated with aging represent a compounding set of medical challenges. Heart disease represents the number one cause of death in the USA. Taken together, acute and chronic neurodegenerative disorders, such as stroke, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), multiple sclerosis, and Huntington's disease, represent the second most common cause of death and are responsible for the fastest-rising rate of death in the United States. HIV-associated dementia also falls into this category and represents a form of neurodegeneration that is precipitated by AIDS; it has become the most common cause of dementia worldwide in persons age 40 or less. Diabetes provides yet another example of a disease with degenerative consequences and is the most common cause of chronic pain syndromes from peripheral neuropathy in the USA.

For clinical information for diagnosis and treatment of each of the diseases mentioned here, see www.ninds.nih.gov (for neurological disease), www.nhlbi.nih.gov (for heart disease), and http://www2.niddk.nih.gov (for diabetes mellitus and other endocrine disorders).

NASCR exists to advance understanding and treatment of these degenerative diseases, as well as the normal aging process. A key feature of the Center is its basic molecular approach coupled with the intent to spearhead translational research in a systems-wide manner, which will expedite the pathway from bench science to clinical trials in order to develop new therapeutic approaches. Our two main missions are (1) to produce new drugs to protect the brain, heart, and pancreas, and (2) to develop regenerative brain, heart, and diabetes therapies using stem cells.

There are three primary programs in our Center to help us accomplish this mission: (i) Neurodegenerative Disease Research, (ii) Stem Cells and Regenerative Biology, and (iii) Development and Aging.

Already, discoveries made by scientists in the Center have paved the way for development of a new drug (Memantine/Namenda®) for Alzheimer's that, for the first time, gets to the root of the problem, possibly preventing brain cell death, rather than merely masking symptoms caused by loss of these cells. Numerous other strategies are being developed for either protecting cells or replacing cells lost during degenerative diseases of the brain and other organs. A major thrust of recent work at the Center focuses on embryonic and adult stem cells, and efforts to lay the foundation of knowledge necessary for eventual development of cell replacement therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, heart attack, diabetes, and other ailments where cells are irrevocably lost.