Some of this work is done by Britain's' Cambridge University, South Korea's Bundang CHA Hospital, International Stem Cell Corp's (ISCO.PK) Cyto Therapeutics in Australia, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harvard University and Japan's Kyoto University Hospital. For BlueRock's experimental therapy, researchers took induced pluripotent stem cells, which are modified to regain the ability to form any type of specialised tissue, and transformed them into dopamine-producing nerve cells. When surgically implanted into the brain of a person with Parkinson's disease, the therapeutic cells are designed to restore neural networks destroyed by the disease. Initial trial results showed the cells multiplied and started making dopamine, an important brain signalling molecule which is lacking in Parkinson's patients. Parkinson's, for which there is no cure and which affects more than 10 million people worldwide, causes progressive brain damage.

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Persons: Wolfgang Rattay, Bayer, BlueRock, Britain's, Jennifer Doudna, Ludwig Burger, Miranda Murray, Mark Potter Organizations: Bayer AG, REUTERS, Bayer, Cambridge University, South Korea's, CHA Hospital, Cyto Therapeutics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harvard University, Japan's Kyoto University Hospital, BlueRock Therapeutics, Mammoth Biosciences, Thomson Locations: Leverkusen, Germany, FRANKFURT, Australia, San Francisco Bay