The Marcus Foundation has awarded $2 million to UCLA Health to accelerate a new generation of stem cell therapy that has the potential to regenerate and restore full sensation to patients after severe spinal cord injuries. The Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA will work in partnership, along with collaborators across the UCLA campus, to pursue new avenues of discovery.
Under the guidance of Dr. Samantha Butler, professor of neurobiology and a member of the center, the resources from this grant will enable UCLA investigators to continue their work to develop a precision-medicine approach to identify strategies to restore somatosensation — the body’s ability to sense pain, pressure, temperature and joint position — in patients with a spinal cord injury. Spinal-sensory-regeneration research projects by Dr. Butler and her colleagues are already underway, with a focus on sensory circuit formation, stem cell transplantation models and sensory disorders of the spinal cord.
“The nervous system has extraordinarily diverse functions, from cognition to movement,” said Dr. Butler. “Our laboratory has a long-term goal of regenerating diseased or damaged spinal sensory circuits in paralyzed patients, and the generosity of The Marcus Foundation is instrumental to our ongoing research.”
UCLA has extensive experience in translating basic science research into clinical innovations and will leverage the expertise of its world-renowned spinal surgeons, neurobiologists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, bioengineers and bioinformatics experts. The UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute Biomedical Informatics Program, for example, will provide researchers with access to high-quality patient data, facilitate reproducible data-driven science and translate data science and AI methods into practice.
“The Marcus Foundation is committed to finding a cure for spinal cord injury,” said Bernie Marcus, founder and chairman of the board of The Marcus Foundation. “We believe regenerative medicine is the path forward to accomplish this goal. Our philanthropic investment will help amplify Dr. Butler and her colleagues’ world-leading efforts to bioengineer spinal-cord-sensory stem cells that return patients with a spinal cord injury to the lives they had before they were hospitalized.”
Marcus, co-founder of The Home Depot, has a long history of philanthropy. He and his wife, Billi, were among the first to sign the Giving Pledge, a campaign that encourages wealthy individuals to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes. The Marcus Foundation provides targeted and impactful philanthropy in the areas of medical research, free enterprise and veterans support, Jewish causes, children and the community.
The funding from the foundation is building an important framework that will propel UCLA Health to the forefront of spinal cord injury research and advanced clinical care. The ultimate goal is to discover methods that will lead to transplantation options and multisite clinical trials for the recovery of sensory function after spinal cord injury.
“UCLA has made significant progress in understanding how the brain and nervous system work in spinal cord injuries,” said Dr. Steven M. Dubinett (RES ’84), dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and associate vice chancellor for UCLA Health Sciences. “Our preeminent scientists are making pioneering discoveries in stem cell research, and Dr. Butler is one of the few researchers in the world who conducts sensory-regeneration studies. We are grateful to The Marcus Foundation for recognizing Dr. Butler’s work, and we look forward to a long-term partnership with the foundation and to taking these studies to the next level.”
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