About Lauren and Birgitt

Lauren Pijanowski got her Master’s in Biotechnology  and undergraduate degree at San Jose State University (SJSU) in Forensic Science. As a graduate student she joined the CIRM sponsored Stem Cell Internship in Laboratory based Learning program which prepared her with a broad understanding of stem cell biology through lectures, seminars, and in-depth laboratory work.
She also attended an intensive human stem cell workshop at Stanford University prior to beginning her internship at the Parkinson’s Institute. The goal of her work is to take skin cells, restore them to the stem cell state and use these stem cells to study Parkinson’s disease and the mechanisms of this disease with a more personalized approach to research.

Birgitt Schuele is an Associate Professor and Director of Gene Discovery and Stem Cell Modeling at the Parkinson’s Institute in Sunnyvale, California. She heads the neurogenetics program, which includes clinical genetic studies of families and sporadic cases with parkinsonism.

The Schuele team applies novel stem cell technologies to generate stem cells from patients with Parkinson’s disease. These skin-derived human stem cells build the foundation for further studies in the culture dish. The stem cells can be differentiated into neurons, specifically neurons that produce and release dopamine resembling the neurons that die in the brain of Parkinson’s patients. This unique human cellular model allows replicating conditions as in the human brain. These neurons are also electrically active and can ”fire” action potentials.

Parkinson’s research has been hampered for a long time because no pre-clinical model could faithfully replicate human disease. Also autopsy tissues from brain donors only have limited use as the disease process has already destroyed most of the dopamine neurons in the brain.

With these novel stem cell-derived neuronal model systems, living human dopamine neurons can be manipulated and studied for changes between patients and controls. This modeling approach has great promise for advancing science and discovery by having the tools to study early changes in the disease process as well as understanding environmental exposure which are the basis for drug screening.

For more information about The Schuele Team at The Parkinson's Institute, visit www.thepi.org