Naegele Receives Major Conn. Stem Cell Grant

Janice Naegele, chair and professor of biology, professor of neuroscience and behavior, has received a $499,988.00 grant from the Connecticut Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee for her study titled: “Brain Grafts of GABAergic Neuron Precursors Derived from Human and Mouse ES Cells for Treating Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.”

The four-year grant will begin in July 2009, and will support research in laboratories in Wesleyan’s biology department and neuroscience program. The research is directed toward generating inhibitory interneurons that we will transplant into the hippocampus of mice that have temporal lobe epilepsy. The goal of the project is to investigate the potential therapeutic effects of these embryonic stem cell derived neuron grafts for repairing damage to the brain and suppressing seizures.

The award is part of Connecticut’s $100 million Human Embryonic Stem Cell Initiative. Naegele’s co-investigators on this study will include Gloster Aaron, assistant professor of biology, assistant professor of neuroscience and behavior, and Laura Grabel, the Lauren B. Dachs Professor of Science in Society, professor of biology.