Narrator: This is Science Today. Surgically placing genetically modified tissue directly into the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease to delay brain cell loss has proven promising in preliminary findings. Dr. Mark Tuszynski of the University of California, San Diego, led the small clinical trial.

Tuszynski: We found about a forty to fifty percent reduction in the rate of progression of the disease. And to give you a sense of what that means – the currently approved drugs for Alzheimer’s disease reduced the rate of decline by about five percent.

Narrator: Although more clinical trials need to be done, Tuszynski says using a family of proteins called nerve growth factors to prevent cell death in the adult, living brain may be of vital importance in developing better therapies for degenerative neurological ailments, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Tuszynski: They can really revolutionize the way in which we treat a number of these common diseases.

Narrator: For Science Today, I’m Larissa Branin.