In a quest to develop a new treatment for the nearly one million people in the US afflicted with Parkinson's disease, Somatix Therapy, Inc. of Alameda, CA has formed a partnership with Berkeley Lab's Center for Functional Imaging. The project unites scientists at Berkeley Lab who have been studying the disease using functional imaging techniques, with researchers at Somatix, who are developing new methods for genetic modification of cells to enable the secretion of neuro-transmitters like dopamine.

Somatix will use genetic engineering to create fibroblast skin cells that produce the neurochemical dopamine, which is depleted in patients with Parkinson's. The altered cells will be implanted in brains of animals with the disease, and Berkeley Lab scientists will use scanning techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) to study to what extent dopamine levels are restored by the fibroblasts.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Cheryl Fragiadakis (cafragiadakis@lbl.gov)

(510) 486-6467; FAX (510) 486-6457