Stem cell research topic of Brain Awareness Week program

"Stem Cell Research in Ohio: The Potential for Treating Brain Disorders and Nerve Damage" is the subject of public lectures Friday (March 18) at the University.

Sponsored by the J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind, and Behavior and the Bowling Green-Toledo Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience, the program will begin at 7:30 p.m. in 228 Bowen-Thompson Student Union, following a 7 p.m. reception.

To commemorate Brain Awareness Week, presentations will be given by Dr. Robert Miller, a professor in the Department of Neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University, and Ross A. Frommer, deputy vice president for government and community affairs and associate dean of the Columbia University Medical Center.

In his research laboratory at Case Western’s School of Medicine, Miller is studying neural stem cells and oligodendrocyte precursors that could be used in the repair of spinal cord injuries and in the treatment of cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis.

Miller also is an investigator with the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine. Launched two years ago with a $19.5 million award from the state of Ohio as a Wright Center of Innovation, the center pulls together researchers and resources from Case Western, the University Hospitals of Cleveland, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Athersys Inc. and Ohio State University. Its mission is to use adult human stem cells and tissue engineering technology to treat human disease.

Miller will provide an update on the new center and its vision of rapidly moving research findings “into clinical and commercial arenas to replace and repair diseased issues and organs.”

An attorney, Frommer represents the Columbia University Medical Center on legislative and governmental matters at the local, state and federal levels. He also is a member of the steering committee of the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Government Relations Representatives and of the board of directors for the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research.

Prior to his current post, Frommer worked for former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-N.Y., as state director in the New York City office and as regional director of the upstate office in Oneonta, N.Y. He has also held several other legislative and government positions, at one time serving as a legislative assistant to Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio.

For more information about Brain Awareness Week and the lecture program, contact Dr. Michael Geusz, biological sciences, at 2-2024.