Continuing the stem cell research collaboration between the Hadassah Medical Center and the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute at the University of Michigan, Philanthropist Alfred Taubman of Detroit has donated $300,000 to Hadassah for research into the use of stem cell technology to treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
Taubman’s gift specifically supports collaborative research between Prof. Benjamin Reubinoff, Director of the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Center at Hadassah, and Dr. Eva Feldman, Director of the Taubman Institute. Since 2009, the two researchers have been working together on a stem cell therapy to treat ALS. Hadassah is a partner in the Taubman Institute-Israel Initiative, which brings together medical researchers from the University of Michigan and Israel.
With the help of Taubman’s gift, the team will apply the latest embryonic stem cell technology to develop human tissue in test tubes that contains the genetic defects causing ALS. The goal is to create human models of ALS on which the doctors can test new treatments.
“The powerful combination of Reubinoff’s and Feldman’s medical minds, backed by the prestige of the Hadassah Medical Center and the University of Michigan,” comments Mr. Taubman, “has the potential to seriously impact medical history.”
