The University of Wisconsin has been awarded a $7.2 million grant for research employing stem cells and growth factors to fight a devastating disease.

The grant, awarded by the National Institutes of Health, will be used to combat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — also known as Lou Gehrig's disease — a fatal condition affecting approximately 30,000 Americans.

Most patients diagnosed with the disease perish within 3-5 years from complications associated with respiratory failure, the last step in a gradual failure of the brain cells that control muscles.

The research on Lou Gehrig's disease has special significance to some within the UW community, because it was the cause of the death of Dr. Eb Rosin, one of UW's leading veterinary surgeons.

The team of researchers involved will be led by UW anatomy professor Clive Svendsen of the Waisman Center and will also include neuroscientists Gordon Mitchell and Su-Chun Zhang, professors of comparative biosciences and anatomy, respectively.

"It's actually a very interesting collaboration," Mitchell said. "The result of a failed experiment and a dinner party."

That collaboration is one reason the three-tiered grant, for use over five years, may have unique potential.

The first part of the research involves using new motor neurons derived from embryonic stem cells in rats with ALS, which has been done by Zhang. However, these new cells haven't attached to aid motor neurons that were failing.

According to Mitchell, the next strategy, in which Svendsen's research takes the lead, involves more mature stem cells that produce a growth factor which will "repair the environment" and allow the new cells to work.

Finally, Mitchell's contribution to the team involves his expertise in respiratory neuroscience, particularly the study of the "plasticity" of motor neurons during ALS. For example, patients who have lost nearly 80 percent of motor neurons responsible for the muscles used to breathe can use the remaining 20 percent to breathe without problems until respiratory failure finally occurs.

"The idea was that the breathing system is critical … but it is also a great test of how results are performing," Mitchell said, noting the respiratory system's other role in the research — an indicator of success in motor neuron regeneration.

“There is a lot of synergy between our groups which provide for a lot of overlap that we think will help us get at some of the key issues of ALS,” Svendsen said in a UW press release.