NYSCF Scientific Advisor and MAB Member Works to “Reinvent Drug Discovery”
The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) was a principal supporter of a new study published today in Cell Stem Cell that employed a novel stem cell-based screening method to identify a promising chemical compound for Lou Gehrig’s disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). NYSCF Scientific Advisor and Medical Advisory Board Member Lee Rubin, PhD, Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) Principal Faculty member, led this study. Using a new stem cell-based drug screening technology with the potential to reinvent and greatly reduce the cost of the way new pharmaceuticals are developed, Rubin’s team has found a compound more effective in protecting the neurons killed in ALS than two drugs that failed in human clinical trials after hundreds of millions of dollars had been invested in them.