Dear Friends,
As many can imagine, raising a child and working simultaneously is never an easy thing. Despite that, Brennan is with me all day, Monday through Friday, inspiring me to forge ahead in the fight against ALD.
Several months back the foundation became involved with Paris based ALD researcher, Patrick Aubourg. Patrick's expertise involving ALD is quite impressive. I hoped to find, at the very least, a sounding board of sorts to ensure that we were on the proper path. After a few weeks of communication, Patrick sent me a wish list of sorts. One of the most critical points on his list was working with Dr. Rudolph Jaenisch at M.I.T. Dr. Jaenisch had created disease specific stem cell lines for Parkinson's and Sickle Cell Anemia. Dr. Aubourg reasoned that the creation of a line for ALD would answer questions that had plagued science for decades. The upside of this was that Dr. Jaenisch made the cell lines using skin cells from affected patients. Quite an easy thing to acquire.
After learning of Patrick's greatest need, I reached out to Jaenisch. Despite the fact that we did not know one another, he responded to me very quickly and showed interest right from the start. What has occurred is inspiring. The first ever ALD stem cell line is very nearly completed. It will allow the disease to be viewed in a way that it never has before. I am certain that many inroads will be traveled as a result of these findings. I am very happy to report this to all of you. As soon as it is a go, I will update the blog to let you know.
All My Best,
David
Posted By: marinemomkerry
Posted On: Jun 14, 2009 11:14 am
