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Dr. Dennis A. Steindler

Dr. Dennis A. Steindler is still "grateful" for a PVA grant which he claims "lunched" his research career.  In an interview with PN, he said he hopes that eminent sojourn will help, and someday cure, SCI.

That’s not Joe the Plumber speaking.  Dr. Steindler is executive director of the McKnight Brain Institute and Shands (Hospital) professor of medical research in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at the University of Florida.  He serves the scientific advisory board for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

Dr. Steindler received his bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, his Ph.D. in anatomy and neuroscience from the University of California at San Francisco, and did postdoctoral training at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Germany.  He began his studies of brain development and injury as an assistant professor of anatomy at Michigan State University and joined the University of Florida College of Medicine faculty as a professor of neuroscience and neurosurgery.

Besides directing a large developmental neurobiology group, and teaching medical school neuroscience, his major research goal is to see the use of stem cell therapy become a major treatment for debilitating neurological diseases - and SCI.

Quietly, emphatically, Dr, Steindler maintains that adult stem cells "offer the hope for a person to cure their own diseases using their reserves of naturally-repairing cells in many of our organs, including the brain."  Debates will continue over which stem cell - embryonic versus adult - might be "best suited to protect and replace at-risk cells in our tissues and organs following injuries or disease."

He stresses one success involves the bone marrow cell: "Bone marrow adult stem cells have long been known to have the ability to replace all of our blood cells, and bone marrow transplants have gained acceptance and wide use as therapies for diseases including leukemia and breast cancer."

"We know that a region of the human brain retains potential disease-fighting cells, and this ‘brain marrow’ population attempts to repair the injured brain but appears to need help from additional scientific research to uncover ways to boost their abilities," Dr. Steindler adds.  This would be for diseases "including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, TBI, SCI, stroke, and brain cancer."

The most obvious benefit of adult stem cells, he argues, is "they’re yours, and will not be attacked by your own immune system following application of technologies to mobilize them for protecting or replacing lost cells in diseases like those mentioned."  Stem cells from donors, including embryonic stem cells, "can’t offer this possibility without the application of ethically-controversial approaches."

As President, Barack Obama will likely use his executive powers to allow federal funding of stem cell research.  "There's a lot the President can do using his executive authority without waiting for congressional action," John Podesta, head of Mr. Obama's transition team, has said.

"Pretty cool," Dr. Steindler muses.