Inventors:
Serge Przedborski - New York NY, US
Hynek Wichterle - New York NY, US
Makiko Nagai - Okayama, JP
Thomas M. Jessell - Bronx NY, US
International Classification:
C12Q 1/02, C12N 5/079, C12N 5/0793
Abstract:
The present invention relates to culture systems comprising differentiated stem cells, that may be used for identifying agents useful in treating degenerative nervous system disorders and are suitable for high-throughput screening applications. It is based, at least in part, on the discovery that co-cultures of (i) astrocytes expressing a mutated SODI gene and (ii) stem-cell derived motor neurons manifested cell death via a Bax-dependent mechanism, and modeled motor neuron death in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.