Gage, Fred

Andrew J. Waskey

FRED H. “RUSTY” Gage is based at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, where he is a professor in the laboratory of genetics. His work has concentrated on the adult central nervous system. His major discovery has been that stem cells exist within the brain and that these can develop into brain cells, owing to certain stimuli. He has shown that exercise and environmental stimulation do contribute brain cell growth. This is contrary to the scientific orthodoxy of previous generations and it has eliminated that barrier to scientific research. Gage's work is seeking to understand the methodology by which this function happens. Once understood, this could lead to replacing or enhancing brain and spinal cord tissues that have been lost or damaged by neurodegenerative disease or by trauma. With their discovery, Fred Gage and his lab team have opened up the whole new field of central nervous system Neurons ...

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