Copyright 2004 Business Wire, Inc.  
Business Wire
January 20, 2004 Tuesday 1:02 PM GMT
DISTRIBUTION: Health/Medical Writers; Business Editors
LENGTH: 462 words
DATELINE: LARCHMONT, N.Y., Jan. 20, 2004

Neural stem cells hold the key to innovative new treatments for age-associated degeneration and traumatic injury to the brain and spinal cord, according to a series of cutting-edge reports and critical reviews in the December 2003 special issue of Journal of Hematotherapy & Stem Cell Research (Volume 12, Number 6), a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (www.liebertpub.com). The entire issue is available free online at www.liebertpub.com/jht.

"Neural stem cell research is revolutionizing ways by which we could target and treat intractable and devastating neurological diseases such as Lou Gehrig's, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's diseases, as well as trauma to the brain or spinal cord," says Marc A. Williams, Ph.D., Co-Editor of the Journal and Research Associate in the Department of Neurology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The issue includes a critical report by Su-Chun Zhang, Ph.D. of the WiCell Institute that describes methods for guiding human embryonic stem cells to become neural cells and for reprogramming those cells so that they will not be recognized and destroyed by the immune system. A key paper by Tobi L. Limke, Ph.D., and Mahendra S. Rao, Ph.D., of the National Institutes of Health, discusses the important but poorly understood concept of the brain's diminished capacity to generate new neurons as it ages. Age-associated neurodegenerative diseases worsen the phenomenon of neuron loss as the brain ages, and the authors describe the pitfalls and possibilities for neural stem cell therapy in the aging brain.

Journal of Hematotherapy & Stem Cell Research, edited by Denis English, Ph.D., Director, Experimental Cell Research Program, The Methodist Research Institute, and Professor of Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published bimonthly in print and online. The journal is dedicated to communication and objective analysis of developments in the biology, characteristics, and therapeutic utility of stem cells, especially those of the hematopoietic system. A complete table of contents and free sample issue may be viewed online atwww.liebertpub.com/jht.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Cloning and Stem Cells, Human Gene Therapy, and Tissue Engineering. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 60 journals, books, and trade publications is available at www.liebertpub.com.