Mirjana Maletic-Savatic, M.D., Ph.D, Assistant Professor of Neurology, and Director, Biological Research at the Cody Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities, and colleagues are the first worldwide to find a way to image a biomarker of neural stem and progenitor cells (NPCs) in the living human brain. Their discovery and method may prove to be monumental in the diagnosis and treatment of multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, depression, and other disorders of the central nervous system where neurogenesis is disrupted.

By using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), the investigative team from SMUMC, Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), found a non-invasive way to detect a biomarker of NPCs. Their discovery opens a new door to studying neurogenesis in the human brain. The team centers its investigation on regions of the brain thought to be a center for learning and memory.

Mirjana Maletic-Savatic, M.D., Ph.D.

“Our findings open the possibility of investigating the role of NPCs and neurogenesis in a wide variety of human brain disorders,” says Dr. Maletic-Savatic. “We are using the method as a protocol to study changes that occur in neurological diseases.”

Dr. Maletic-Savatic is applying the imaging method in collaborative research with SOM faculty and researchers at other academic medical centers. She is working with Lauren Krupp, M.D., Professor of Neurology, to image NPC recruitment in brain regions of multiple sclerosis patients. By mid-2008, Dr. Maletic-Savatic hopes to do image NPC recruitment in patients with cerebral palsy and mental retardation. She is collaborating with a Columbia University team to image NPCs in patients with depression. Additionally, Dr. Maletic-Savatic is working with SBU scientists to  analyze the molecular nature of the biomarker.

To read more about Dr. Maletic-Savatic’s findings, see the link to the article, “Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Identifies Neural Progenitor Cells in the Live Human Brain,” published in the November 9 issue of Science: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/318/5852/980

Dr. Maletic-Savatic’s co-authors include Louis N. Manganas, M.D., Ph.D., of SBU and CSHL; Xueying (Sherry) Zhang, Ph.D., of SBU; Yao Li, a Ph.D. student at SBU; Raphael D. Hazel, Ph.D., of  SBU; S. David Smith, Ph.D., of BNL; Mark E. Wagshul, Ph.D., of SBU; Fritz Henn, M.D., Ph.D., of BNL; Helene Benveniste, M.D., Ph.D., of SBU and BNL; Petar M Djuric, Ph.D., of SBU, and Grigori Enikolopov, Ph.D., of CSHL.