Walter Low, Stem Cell Institute at the University of Minnesota

lowwalt@umn.edu

Education

Dr. Low is a Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery, and the Director of the Neurosurgery Research Laboratories. He received his B.S. degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He completed his postdoctoral fellowship training at the University of Cambridge in England.

Research Interests

My research is focused on the use of stem cells and neural progenitor cells for the repair of the nervous system. Previous work has focused on the transplantation of neural progenitor cells to restore function in animal models of Parkinson, Huntington, and Alzheimer disease, ataxia, and stroke. Recently, my laboratory has isolated a novel population of non-hematopoietic stem cells from human umbilical cord blood. We are currently characterizing the properties of these stem cells and determining the utility of these cells for treating experimental neurological disorders.

Select Publications

• Low, WC, P.R. Lewis, S.T. Bunch, S.B. Dunnett, S.R. Thomas, S.D. Iversen, A. Bjorklund and U. Stenevi, Function recovery following neural transplantation of embryonic septal nuclei in adult rats with septohippocampal lesions, Nature, 300:260 262 (1982).
• Low, WC, L.C. Triarhou, and B. Ghetti, Cerebellar transplants into mutant mice with Purkinje and granule cell degeneration, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 495:740 744 (1987).
• Low, WC, L.C. Triarhou, Y. Kaseda, J. Norton, and B. Ghetti, Functional reinnervation of the striatum by ventral mesencephalic grafts in mice with inherited nigrostriatal dopamine deficiency, Brain Research, 435:315 321 (1987).
• Onifer, S.M. and WC Low, Spatial memory deficits resulting from ischemia induced damage to the hippocampus are ameliorated by intrahippocampal transplants of fetal hippocampal neurons, Progress in Brain Research, 82:359 366 (1990).
• Tarricone, B.J., S.R. Keim, J.R. Simon, and WC Low, Intrahippocampal transplants of septal cholinergic neurons: High-affinity choline uptake and spatial memory function, Brain Research, 548:55-62 (1991).
• Li, Y.J., J.R. Simon, and WC Low, Intrahippocampal grafts of cholinergic-rich striatal tissue ameliorate spatial memory deficits in rats with fornix lesions, Brain Research Bulletin, 29:147-155 (1992).
• Kondoh, T., L. Pundt, and WC Low, Development of human fetal ventral mesencephalic grafts in rats with 6-OHDA lesions of the nigrostriatal pathway, Neuroscience Research, 21:223-233, (1995).
• Pundt, L.L., T. Kondoh, J.A. Conrad, WC Low, Transplantation of human striatal tissue into a rodent model of Huntington¿s Disease: phenotypic expression of transplanted neurons and host-to-graft innervation, Brain Research Bulletin, 39:23-32 (1996).
• Kondoh, T., L. Pundt, J. Blount, J. Conrad, WC Low, Transplantation of human fetal tissue from spontaneous abortions to rats with experimental Parkinson¿s disease. Cell Transplantation 5:69-75 (1996).
• Pundt, L.L., T.Kondoh, J.A. Conrad, and WC Low, Transplantation of human fetal striatum into a rodent model of Huntington¿s disease ameliorates locomotor deficits, Neuroscience Research, 24:415-420 (1996).
• Tarricone, BJ, JR Simon, YJ Li, and WC Low, Neural grafting of cholinergic neurons in the hippocampal formation, Behavioural Brain Research, 74:25-44 (1996).
• Pundt, LL, EA Jorn, JA Conrad, and WC Low, Organization and phenotypic expression of human fetal cerebellar cells following transplantation into the cerebellum of nude mice, Cell Transplantation, 6:479- 489 (1997).
• Jansen, EM, L Solberg, S Underhill, S Wilson, C Cozzari, BK Hartman, PL Faris,and WC Low, Transplantation of fetal neocortex ameliorates sensorimotor and locomotor deficits following neonatal ischemic-hypoxic brain injury in rats, Experimental Neurology, 147:487-497 (1997).
• Kaemmerer, W.F. and WC Low, Cerebellar allografts survive and transiently alleviate ataxia in a transgenic model of Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type-1, Experimental Neurology 158:301-311(1999).
• Duan, W.M., M. Westerman, C. Flores, and WC Low, Survival of intrastriatal xenografts of ventral mesencephalic dopamine neurons from MHC deficient mice to adult rats, Experimental Neurology, 167:108-117(2001).
• Zhao, LR, WM Duan, M Reyes, CD Keene, CM Vervaillie, and WC Low, Human bone marrow stem cells exhibit neural phenotypes and ameliorate neurological deficits after grafting into the ischemic brain of rats, Experimental Neurology, 174(1):11-20 (2002).
• Duan WM, CMP Rodrigues, LR Zhao, CJ Steer, and WC Low, Tauroursodeoxycholic acid improves the survival and function of nigral transplants in a rat model of Parkinson¿s disease, Cell Transplantation, 11:195-205 (2002).
• Jiang, YH, BN Jahagirdar, RL Reinhardt, RE Schwartz, CD Keene, X. Ortiz-Gonzalez, M Reyes, T Lenvik, T Lund, M Blackstad, JB Du, S Aldrich, A Lisberg, WC Low, DA Largaespada, CM Verfaillie, Pluripotent nature of adult marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells, Nature 418:41-49 (2002).
• Keene, CD, XR Ortiz-Gonzalez, YH Jiang, D Largaespada, CM Verfaillie, and WC Low, Neural differentiation and incorporation of bone marrow-derived multipotent adult progenitor cells after single cell transplantation into blastocyst stage mouse embryos, Cell Transplantation 12:201-214 (2003).
• Ortiz-Gonzalez, X, CD Keene, CM Verfaillie, and WC Low, Neural Induction of adult bone marrow and umbilical cord stem cells, Current Neurovascular Research 1:207-213 (2004).
• Nan, ZH, , Grande A, Sanberg CD, Sanberg PR, and Low WC, Infusion of human umbilical cord blood ameliorates neurologic deficits in rats with hemorrhagic brain injury, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1049:84-96 (2005).
• Xiao, J, Nan ZH, Motooka, Y, and Low, WC, Transplantation of a novel cell line population of umbilical cord blood stem cells ameliorates neurological deficits associated with ischemic brain injury, Stem Cells and Development 14:722-733 (2005).
• Burns TC, Ortiz-Gonzalez XR, Gutierrex-Perez M, Keene CD, Sharda R, Demorest ZL, Jiang Y, Nelson-Holte M, Soriano M, Nakagawa Y, Luquin MR, Garcia-Verdugo JM, Prosper F, Low WC, Verfaillie CM, Thymidine Analogs are Transferred from Pre-Labeled Donor to Host Cells in the Central Nervous System After Transplantation: A Word of Caution.Stem Cells 24:1121-7 (2006).
• Sam TN, Roehrich H, Xiao, J, Low WC, and Gregerson DS Tissue-restricted expression of a reporter gene associated with differentiated retinal photoreceptor cells by engrafted neural stem cells that home to retina, Cell Transplantation 15:147-60 (2006).