Dr. Chandler Walker, associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Comprehensive Care at Indiana University School of Dentistry, was awarded a three-year, $1.1 million grant package from Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Inc. (NDR) for stem-cell research and to study pathological changes related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The goal of Dr. Walker’s NDR-funded research is to move stem cell-based therapies into clinical trials for people afflicted with ALS. This research involves thoroughly characterizing the protein and extracellular vesicle/exosome content of the conditioned medium and optimizing the therapy to provide maximal benefits with reduced risk and side effects.
“These outcomes will lay the groundwork to support the therapeutic efficacy and progress of a stem cell conditioned medium as a viable ALS treatment,” Dr. Walker said.
Dr. Walker’s research at Indiana University School of Dentistry is a collaboration with the Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The projects funded by NDR will build upon his VA research for translating promising stem-cell based therapies to clinical application.
“NDR provides research funding to advance our understanding of the cause of ALS, as well to use that knowledge to develop, test, and translate therapies for ALS patients,” Dr. Walker said. “There are no cures for ALS, and it is 100% fatal. We hope our funded research will help accelerate effective therapies to patients sooner than later.”
Description of the video:
My name is Dr. Chandler Walker here at the School of Dentistry and I'm an assistant professor in the department of biomedical sciences and comprehensive care.
And my research is associated with Neuroscience but I am also the course director for the dental student head and neck Anatomy course.
In a broad sense we study neurological disease injury and ultimately trying to identify therapies that improve those conditions both from a functional anatomical as well as a survival standpoint.
The range of diseases that we cover go from Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS), we do some Alzheimer's disease research as well as spinal cord injury and facial nerve injury.
So all of these models present unique challenges in that there are few treatments for most of them and no cures.
Facial nerve injury is a critical field for Dentistry because surgeons often have to deal with the course of the facial nerve branching across the face and injury to this nerve is common in very invasive procedures during surgery.
And so for that particular study we're looking at ways to enhance regeneration and recovery of facial muscle function basically increasing the expression pattern for patients.
So my path to get here to the IU School of Dentistry was a little bit roundabout but actually straightforward at the same time.
I did my PhD at the School of Medicine in the department of neurological surgery studying spinal cord injury.
Then I did a post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Catherine Jones over in the anatomy department at the School of Medicine and that introduced me to facial nerve injury recovery and so on.
And my major in my PhD was anatomy and cell biology so I had extensive anatomy training but also extensive research background in neuroscience and related diseases.
This was a goal of mine from the beginning was to balance those two during my training so that I could strike that balance in my career.
And I just got very lucky to find this position here at the school and maintain in this wonderful campus and working with great people here in Indianapolis.
About Indiana University School of Dentistry:
Indiana University School of Dentistry (IUSD) fosters an exceptional learning environment in which teaching, research, and community service converge to prepare future dental professionals. IUSD was founded in 1879 as the Indiana Dental College, with operational oversight assumed by Indiana University in 1925. IUSD is one of the oldest dental schools in the nation with more than 13,000 living alumni located across the United States and approximately 30 other countries. In March 2018, IUSD dedicated its newest facility on the IUPUI campus – the 45,000-square-foot James J. Fritts, DDS Clinical Care Center – to continue our tradition of excellence in service and education into the future.
About Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Inc.
Neurodegenerative Disease Research, Inc., is a not-for-profit organization that was formed with a mission to provide funding to researchers with an emphasis to identify and validate biomarkers for determining drug effectiveness in neurodegenerative diseases and facilitate pathology-based treatments to ALS patients. This novel research is helping to identify the causes of ALS, the phase of disease progression, and developing targeted treatments to end neurodegeneration. More information at https://www.ndrinc.org.
