Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Neurology

Dr. Clive Svendsen received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in England. He moved to the University of Wisconsin in 2000 as Professor of Neurology and Anatomy. In 2010, he moved to Los Angeles where founded and is the director of the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute (RMI), with a focus to both model and treat human diseases using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Dr. Svendsen’s lab focuses on using patient-derived iPSCs to model various neurodegenerative diseases, including spinal muscular atrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Parkinson’s disease. Additionally, using “organ-on-chip” technology that combines stem cells and engineering, in order to create multicellular human systems for research and drug development. The other focus of Dr. Svendsen’s lab involves cutting-edge clinical trials using stem cells and growth factors. He is the Sponsor for a new clinical trial using stem cells to treat the incurable eye disease Retinitis Pigmentosa. He is also the Sponsor of the first-ever clinical trial delivering a combined stem cell and GDNF treatment to the spinal cord of ALS patients that was recently completed at Cedars-Sinai and he is the Sponsor on a ongoing trial delivering this treatment to the brain of ALS patients.