Dr. Viviane Tabar was quoted in an NPR story about the possible return of Brain Cell Transplants… for Parkinson’s patients.  Over a decade ago research was conducted to transplant fetal brain cells into Parkinson’s patients, with the goal of helping replace lost dopamine producing cells. Those early studies were halted due to adverse effects and lack of significant improvements. However, Dr. Tabar and colleagues never stopped working.  And today, with colleagues at MSK an, she is hoping to get FDA approval to begin trials of treating Parkinson’s patients with laboratory-created pure dopamine cells in 2018. Tabar is hopeful that this new treatment is exactly the innovation that Parkinson’s research needs. “On the one hand, you don’t want to rush,” she says. “On the other hand I think the field is ready for something bold.”

A new study involving 766 MSK patients, showed that reporting therapy side effects through an online tool not only improved quality of life, but surprisingly, these patients also had longer survival rates compared to patients who followed the standard of care and reported these symptoms at their next doctor’s visit. Not only did the online tool provide an immediate outlet for patients to report issues, lessening the chance of forgetting to mention it to their provider, but nurses received alerts when patients reported severe or worsening symptoms and could respond to the patient immediately, and doctors were able to review these reports at the next visit. According to lead author Dr. Ethan Basch, “Much of this happens between visits when patients are out of sight and out of mind,” This new tool allows doctors to identify problems earlier and lessen the severity of these issues.

Thanks to NASCAR champion and FOX Sports analyst, Jeff Gordon, and a grant from the Sohn Conference Foundation, a new program at MSK is hoping to support the identification of targeted therapies for children and provide access for the children who could benefit from these treatments. According to the organization, the Jeff Gordon & Sohn Precision Medicine Fund is “particularly important in the pediatric space because most cancer therapies are only approved for adult cancers, not childhood cancers or for use in children”, and the $200,000 grant is hoping to bring innovative treatments to these pediatric cancer patients.