Birgit Neuhuber Stone, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Stem cell transplants into spinal cord injury

Email: bneuhuber@drexelmed.edu

Research Interests

My major interest lies in evaluating the potential of cellular transplants as a therapy for spinal cord injury. In my work, I am focusing on bone marrow stromal cell and neural precursor cell transplants. To potentially increase the efficacy of stem cell therapies, I am using different combinations of stem cell transplants and other promising therapeutic strategies like administration of trophic factors, drugs and physical therapy. In addition, I am interested in strategies that will ease the transition of cell-based therapies into the clinic, e.g., autologous transplantation and minimally invasive cell delivery.
I am also interested in the basic stem cell biology of bone marrow stromal cells and neural precursor cells. Past and current projects include the optimization of bone marrow stromal cell culture conditions, investigation of their transdifferentiation potential and determination of the neuronal phenotypes derived from neural precursor cells in vitro.

Ongoing Projects

1. Transplantation of human bone marrow cells into the contused spinal cord
 

2. Transplantation of syngeneic neural precursor cells (NPC) into the contused spinal cord using lumbar puncture
 

3. Effects of a neurotrophin gradient on axonal growth in rats with partial hemisection injury and NRP/GRP grafts
 

Biography

Selected Publications

Himes B. T., B. Neuhuber, C. Coleman, R. Kushner, S. Swanger, G. C. Kopen, J. Wagner, J. S. Shumsky, and I. Fischer. 2006. Recovery of function following grafting of human bone marrow-derived stromal cells into the injured spinal cord. Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair 20(2):278-296. (abstract)

Lepore A. C., B. Neuhuber, S. S. W. Han, Y. Liu, M. P. Daniels, M. S. Rao, and I. Fischer. 2006. Long-term fate of neural precursor cells following transplantation into the developing and adult CNS. Neuroscience 139(2):513-530. (abstract)

Bakshi, A., A. L. Barshinger, S. A. Swanger, V. Madhavani, J. S. Shumsky, B. Neuhuber, and I. Fischer. 2006. Lumbar puncture delivery of bone marrow stromal cells in spinal cord contusion: A novel method for minimally invasive cell transplantation. J. Neurotrauma 23(1):55-65. (abstract)

Swanger, S. A., B. Neuhuber, B. T. Himes, A. Bakshi and I. Fischer. 2005. Analysis of allogeneic and syngeneic bone marrow stromal cell graft survival in the spinal cord. Cell Transplantation 14(10):775-786. (abstract)

Neuhuber, B., B. T. Himes, J. S. Shumsky, G. Gallo, I. Fischer. 2005. Axon growth and recovery of function supported by human bone marrow stromal cells in the injured spinal cord exhibit donor variations.  Brain Res 1035: 73-85. (abstract)

Neuhuber, B., G. Gallo, L. Howard, L. Kostura, A. Mackay, and I. Fischer. 2004. Reevaluation of in vitro differentiation protocols for bone marrow stromal cells: Disruption of actin cytoskeleton induces rapid morphological changes and mimics neuronal phenotype. J. Neurosci. Res. 77(2): 192-204. (abstract)