CHARLESTON — The copious medical hopes pinned on stem cells are on standby because transplants of the cells don’t survive. Clemson University Bioengineering Professor Xuejun Wen believes he has the answer.

Wen’s strategy hinges on manipulation of the brain’s microenvironment — before and after stem cell transplants are performed. Microenvironment refers to chemical and biological conditions in brain tissue, particularly the substantia nigra region.

“If a Parkinson’s patient’s own dopamine neurons cannot survive in his or her own brain tissue, how can transplanted dopamine neurons from other individuals cells survive in that brain tissue?” Wen said. “The only way to make these transplanted neurons survive is to change the microenvironment.”

Working at the Charleston branch of Clemson’s bioengineering department, Wen and his 11-person team are developing a device to pre-condition brain tissue. By prepping the receptacle area, the maneuver would allow for more successful transplants.

“Transplanted cells will not be exposed to acute inflammation response since we transplant cells four to six weeks later after we implant the mini-device,” Wen said.

On June 2, Wen’s project received a $400,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award. The funding will fund the microenvironment technology and training, and Wen believes, inspire the next generation of scientists in engineering and biomedical research. One of the NSF’s most prestigious honors, the CAREER Award was designed to anchor integrated research and education efforts.

The last four years of Wen’s work have been dedicated to stem cells. His research has focused on adapting human stem cells in an attempt to cure hardcore central nervous system maladies — Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, strokes, spinal cord injuries, etc.

Past efforts earned Wen financial support from the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the largest nonprofit benefactor of Parkinson’s research.

“Although many scientists are trying to use stem cells for the treatment of many brain and spinal cord diseases and injuries, there is very low success,” Wen said. “Since after six months, all these transplanted neurons derived from stem cells will be dead, if they are not developed into cancers. We simply cannot go to patients that we do a transplantation surgery every six months.

“Therefore, we have to develop a technology to ultimately solve the survival issues with stem cell transplantation. Otherwise, there is no future for transplanting stem cells for the treatment of many central nervous system diseases.”

In addition to brain microenvironment issues, Wen said transplant failures could be caused by inflammatory or immune responses and sub-par blood vessel support.

“The major advance (in stem cell technology) in the past a few years is using genetic engineered approach to manipulate regular body cells into stem cells or stem-like cells, which may be used in clinical settings in the near future — if virus transfection can be replaced by other more friendly approach,” Wen said. “But, the same survival problem exists. Our technology will help to improve the survival for these cells as well.”

Stem cells are the darling of the research world because they’re able to generate all cell types in the body, Wen said. Essentially, the aim is to replace cells lost to disease with stem cells.

The treatment possibilities are endless — or not.

Said Wen: “In the science field, people may think if you put (stem) cells in the locations where the injury or disease is located, the disease will be treated or cured. In the general population, people may think stem cells can treat all diseases and injuries. Neither is true.”