Functional Neural Transplantation IV: Translation to Clinical Application, Part A

Dunnett is a behavioural neuroscientist who started a lifelong collaboration with the Björklund team in 1979 to explore the functional consequences of cell transplantation method in animal models of neurodegenerative disease, in particular involving cell replacement and repair of the basal ganglia. He has developed models and novel methods of motor and cognitive assessment to apply behavioural analysis not simply to assess functional efficacy of implanted cells, but as a tool to study the mechanisms of cell integration, circuit reconstruction and functional repair. In parallel his laboratory originated the first UK trial of cell transplantation in Huntington’s disease, and provides the source of clinical grade cells for further ongoing trials in Parkinson’s disease.

As a neuroanatomist and developmental neurobiologist, during the 1970s Björklund’s lab originated reliable methods for transplantation of embryonic tissues into brain that pioneered practical cell transplantation in the central nervous system, providing the basis for technologies that are now used by laboratories world-wide. In parallel, work in the field has progressed from basic anatomical and developmental studies in experimental animals, via applications for assessing cell replacement and repair using primary and stem cells in the damaged brain, and now underpinning the majority of methods in development for cell therapy in patients. His laboratory continues to analyse the fundamental neurobiology and principles of cell transplantation, regeneration and integration in the CNS, as well as originating the first trials of effective clinical cell transplantation (for Parkinson’s disease) in patients