The Future of Brain Repair: the prospects for stem cell therapy.

Professor Jack Price, Institute for Psychiatry, Psychology, & Neuroscience. King’s College London

Stem cell therapies for brain disorders have been eagerly anticipated for at least two decades, but to date there isn’t a single licensed cell therapy for a neurological disorder. Are the promised cell therapies just hype, or are new treatments just around the corner? In this talk, I’ll address progress so far, ask what we have learned, and assess what are the prospects for effective treatments.

My primary interest is stem cells, their capacity to repair the damaged brain, and to model human brain disorders. My lab helped prepare the first neural cell therapy to enter clinical trials in Europe. We subsequently used pluripotent stem cells to model neurodevelopmental disorders, particularly autism and schizophrenia. For two years I was Director of the UK Stem Cell bank, and promoted the use of human pluripotent stem cells for clinical use. Until recently I was Head the Division of Advanced Therapies at the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC). I have published and spoken widely on Cell Therapies in both academic and popular formats. My book ‘The Future of Brain Repair: A Realist’s Guide to Stem Cell Therapy’ was published by MIT Press in April 2020.

For more information about upcoming lectures see www.csar.org.uk