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Philip H. Schwartz, Ph.D., Director
Trained
at UCLA's Brain Research Institute, Dr. Schwartz is a full-time stem
cell biologist and holds a Senior Scientist position at the Children's
Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) Research Institute. Dr. Schwartz
is Director and Founder of CHOC's National Human Neural Stem Cell
Resource (NHNSCR), an Associate Research Biologist at the University of
California, Irvine (UCI), Developmental Biology Center, and a Visiting
Associate Professor in the Stem Cells and Regeneration Program of the
Burnham Institute.
Dr. Schwartz' early work
included studies of several models of energy failure-induced brain
damage as well as preclinical and clinical studies of pharmacologic
agents aimed at maintaining cerebral perfusion and/or
neuroprotection. Much of this work involved translational
research aimed toward improving the treatment of pediatric intensive
care unit patients. For the last eight years, he has been involved in
the harvest of human brains from patients that have died with
neurogenetic disease and the research in his laboratory is directed
towards understanding the factors influencing the behavior of human
central nervous system (CNS) stem cells and multipotent CNS progenitor
populations in the normal and neurogenetically diseased brain.
In
collaborations on large animal models for stem cell transplantation, he
has established neural stem cell lines from cats, sheep, and transgenic
GFP pigs. Much of this work has been directed towards evaluating the
efficacy of neural stem cell transplantation in animal models of
degenerative eye diseases and of neurogenetic disease. This
latter work has direct application to the clinical use of stem cells
for the treatment of children with neurodevelopmental disorders, the
major clinical focus of Dr. Schwartz and his clinical colleagues at
CHOC. This effort also involves the use of mesenchymal stem cells
harvested from human bone marrow and umbilical cord blood.
In
collaborative work with scientists at UCI and the Burnham Institute,
Dr. Schwartz is involved in the application of microfluidics to study
migratory behavior of stem cells, the study of the effects of the
extracellular matrix on stem cell proliferation and differentiation,
and mechanisms of asymmetric cell division.
With
scientists at UCDavis, Dr. Schwartz has been using neural stem cells
harvested from patients with the Fragile X Tremor Ataxia Syndrome
(FXTAS) to understand the molecular biology of this novel disease that
may comprise the underlying diagnosis of a significant proportion of
Parkinson's patients. Dr. Schwartz' interest in the major
neurodevelopmental disorders is also reflected in his studies of stem
cells taken from patients with Fragile X Syndrome, Rett Syndrome,
Down's Syndrome, and various mitochondrial diseases. He is also
interested in novel ways to derive human embryonic stem cell lines and
has an active collaboration with a local infertility clinic for this
work; a strong ethics component attaches to this effort.
A
Principal Investigator of one of the NIH's 5 T15 Human Embryonic Stem
Cell Culture Training Courses, Dr. Schwartz trains national and
international scientists in current human embryonic and neural stem
cell techniques. Dr. Schwartz regularly participates in special
study sections on stem cells at the NIH. As part of the NHNSCR,
Dr. Schwartz maintains clinical collaborations with several west Coast
university hospitals and has active research collaborations with over
30 national and international stem cell researchers. Dr. Schwartz
also regularly disseminates stem cell research information to the lay
public by way of the print, television, and radio media. Dr.
Schwartz' current organizational efforts have been to establish the
Center for Stem Cell Transplantation at CHOC and the Stem Cell Research
Center at UCI, in addition to fostering formal collaborative efforts
between CHOC and UCI in stem cell research. Dr. Schwartz sits on the
CHOC Ethics Committee and IACUC and is currently funded by the CHOC
Foundation for Children and by the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Schwartz's Curriculum Vitae
in pdf format.
David J. Brick, Ph.D.
Siranush Herculian, B.S.
Omar Khalid, Ph.D.
Daniel Mendez, B.S.
Samantha Montesano, B.S.
Hubert Nethercott, B.S.
Dean Perusse, Intern
Gaby Banuelos, M.S.
Alexander E. Stover, M.S.
Anthony Rangel, B.S.
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