William Willis (’50 BA L&S, ’52 LLB LAW), married to Doris (’50 BS L&S)

Stem Cell Research Offers Hope for ALS Patients

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neuromuscular disease characterized by muscle weakness and a progressive wasting and paralysis of the muscles. Also called Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS attacks the body's motor neurons, or nerve cells, destroying them. As they are destroyed, a person with ALS loses the ability to walk, speak, swallow and breathe. The average survival time following diagnosis is between two and five years.

Today, the capacity to grow human tissue of all kinds is opening the door to the treatment of a wide range of cell-based diseases such as ALS. Replacing faulty cells with healthy ones offers hope for lifelong treatment.

It is this hope for the future that has prompted a Madison woman with ALS to make a gift to the Waisman Center's new Stem Cell Research Program. Interest in stem cell biology has exploded over the last few years due to the remarkable potential it holds for repairing damaged tissues following disease or trauma.

"Until recently the thought of repairing the damaged brain was inconceivable," said Clive Svendsen, anatomy and neurology professor who came to the UW from the University of Cambridge in England to direct the Stem Cell Research Program. "We are born with a certain number of neurons, and then gradually lose them through aging or disease. However, new research suggests the brain may be far more 'plastic' than we imagined. New cells are accepted and can grow in the adult brain, replacing old ones.

"The challenge now is to tap into this new image of the brain through innovative approaches to treating neurological disease." Based on ten years experience with human neural stem cells, Svendsen hopes to see these basic scientific discoveries translated into clinical applications.

Marie, the donor, who has asked that her entire name not be used, is committed to finding a cure for ALS. She knows the exciting new research on ALS is unlikely to help her, but she is certain it will help others like her. "I have been given so much more time in life than a typical ALS patient," she said. "I won't be first in line when they start handing out stem cells. I am more at peace when I just focus on day-to-day living."

Marie has made a stock gift to the University of Wisconsin Foundation and she admits "this gift is happening at a really poor time in the economy. However, the science, the momentum and the greatest minds are available to work on stem cells and human disease now. It would be sad to miss this opportunity that's been given to us."

She is asking others to join her in support of the important research being conducted at the Waisman Center. Diagnosed with ALS in 1990 at the age of 30, Marie is working with UW researchers to obtain grants from the ALS Association and Project ALS, in addition to private gifts. She will match additional contributions to the ALS Stem Cell Research Fund up to $400,000.

The funding will provide for the immediate hiring of a research fellow to work on the transplantation of neural stem cells into animal models of ALS. Future funding through grants and the growth of the fund will provide money to cover equipment and animal costs as well as the hiring of additional technicians to develop a full ALS stem cell program of research.

"Marie's gift has provided the important seed to get the science moving," Svendsen said.