Douglas Ethell, assistant professor of biomedical sciences at UCR. (Source: Kat Sanchez, UCR Strategic Communications)

UC Riverside’s Douglas Ethell, an assistant professor of biomedical sciences who studies how brain cells die in disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, has been awarded a $2,120,833, five-year grant by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), California’s stem cell research initiative. The grant, called a New Faculty Award by CIRM, will fund Ethell’s research on human embryonic stem cells for treating Alzheimer’s disease.

Ethell’s proposed research will involve the use of human embryonic stem cells to develop a method that would stimulate the production of “beta-amyloid responsive T cells.” These T cells coordinate immune responses that reduce brain levels of a toxic Alzheimer’s-related molecule, called beta-amyloid peptide, thereby improving memory.

Ethell’s lab will stimulate the embryonic stem cells to become a certain kind of immune cell, called a dendritic cell. His lab will attempt to coax the dendritic cells into activating Alzheimer’s specific immune responses.

This article was published in Drug Discovery & Development magazine: Vol. 11, No. 1, January, 2008, pp. 45.