Hello,
I was hoping to attend the KDA Conference this year, but was unable to attend. I am wondering if there is a plan to provide some sort of summary or list of highlights from the conference. I am very curious about how the IGF-1, IPLEX, and ASC-J9 research is going.
Thanks,
Tony

Tony,

As far as I know, highlights of the conference are planned for the next newsletter due out near the end of the month. Right now you can get some information on the Kennedy's Disease Association Facebook page. Hope this helps.
Have a Great Holiday.

Tony, Stan is correct about information being made available in the KDA Holiday Newsletter. Terry also has some video and information that needs distribution releases before they can be made available on the KDA website and Facebook. ICF-1 and ASC-J9 both received positive reviews and testing on small animals is underway or will be underway shortly.

Thanks for the info!

Stem Cell Transplants in Mice Produce Lifelong Enhancement of Muscle Mass

November 10, 2010

A University of Colorado at Boulder-led study shows that specific types of stem cells transplanted into the leg muscles of mice prevented the loss of muscle function and mass that normally occurs with aging, a finding with potential uses in treating humans with chronic, degenerative muscle diseases.

The experiments showed that when young host mice with limb muscle injuries were injected with muscle stem cells from young donor mice, the cells not only repaired the injury within days, they caused the treated muscle to double in mass and sustain itself through the lifetime of the transplanted mice. "This was a very exciting and unexpected result," said Professor Bradley Olwin of CU-Boulder's molecular, cellular and developmental biology department, the study's corresponding author.

Muscle stem cells are found within populations of "satellite" cells located between muscle fibers and surrounding connective tissue and are responsible for the repair and maintenance of skeletal muscles, said Olwin. The researchers transplanted between 10 and 50 stem cells along with attached myofibers -- which are individual skeletal muscle cells -- from the donor mice into the host mice.

"We found that the transplanted stem cells are permanently altered and reduce the aging of the transplanted muscle, maintaining strength and mass," said Olwin.

A paper on the subject was published in the Nov. 10 issue of Science Translational Medicine. Co-authors on the study included former CU-Boulder postdoctoral fellow John K. Hall, now at the University of Washington Medical School in Seattle, as well as Glen Banks and Jeffrey Chamberlain of the University of Washington Medical School.

Olwin said the new findings, while intriguing, are only the first in discovering how such research might someday be applicable to human health. "With further research we may one day be able to greatly resist the loss of muscle mass, size and strength in humans that accompanies aging, as well as chronic degenerative diseases like muscular dystrophy."