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The Tulane Center for Gene Therapy was formed in July of 2000.

The major aim of the Center is to develop new therapies for a series of common diseases that include osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, parkinsonism, spinal cord injury, stroke, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. The primary strategy of the Center is to use adult stem cells that can easily be obtained from a patient and then used for therapy of the same patient. The Center also provides educational programs for career development, job training and life-long learning of citizens; establish a forum to evaluate the social, legal and ethical implications of gene therapy; and develop commercial applications of gene therapy with an emphasis on commercial developments within the State of Louisiana. The Center is supported by research funds from the federal government via National Institutes of Health grants, from the state of Louisiana via the Louisiana Gene Therapy Research Consortium and the Louisiana Board of Regents, from the Tulane University Health Sciences Center, the HCA - Healthcare Company and several private foundations. The Center is a major participant in the Louisiana Gene Therapy Research Consortium that includes gene therapy centers at the LSU Health Sciences Centers in New Orleans and in Shreveport. The Center was launched with a staff of 15 who moved with Dr. Prockop from Philadelphia. It now has a staff of over 30 with plans to increase the staff to about 50 within the next year or two. The Center is housed in approximately 20,000 sq. ft. of modern laboratory space in the Tulane University Health Sciences Center's J. Bennett Johnston Building, located at 1324 Tulane Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana and other Tulane owned buildings. In addition, the Center has laboratory space and resources at the Tulane National Primate Research Center.

The Tulane Center for Gene Therapy is under the directorship of Darwin J. Prockop, MD, PhD. Dr. Prockop has a distinguished career and his pioneering research is recognized throughout the world. He has been honored by his peers in many ways, including election to the National Academy of Science, two honorary degrees, and the Lee C. Howley Prize of the Arthritis Foundation for research on arthritis.

The therapies being developed by the Center are based on the discoveries largely made by Dr. Prockop and his associates that adult stem cells from a patient's own bone marrow can be gene engineered and then potentially used in the same patient to target the genes of the central nervous system, the bones, cartilage and many other tissues. The Center staff is doing research both on the basic biology of adult stem cells and developing procedures for use of the cells in patients with devastating diseases. The Center provides well characterized adult stem cell preparations to academic researchers worldwide, under a grant from the National Institutes of Health.

The interest in adult stem cells by the Center staff began after they and others had identified mutations in collagen genes that cause brittle bone disease in children (osteogenesis imperfecta) and inherited cartilage disorders (chondrodysplasias). We have also identified mutations in collagen genes in common connective tissue disorders such as lumbar disc disease, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis and aortic aneurysms.

Identifying the mutations that cause the diseases led to developing new therapies. Preliminary results from a collaborative clinical trial being carried out at St. Jude's Children's Hospital in Memphis suggests that the adult stem cells will be useful in treating osteogenesis imperfecta and perhaps osteoporosis.