A Boost for Translational Neuroscience

摘要

Despite much progress in basic neu-roscience research, the translation of these research findings into therapeutic advances for neurological and psychiatric diseases is frustratingly slow. Any step forward in treatments for stroke, acute brain or spinal cord injury, or for chronic neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, scnrzopnrema, or diabetic neuropathy, would be a major contribution to medi- cine. This is where the work of Leist and colleagues (I) published on page 239 of this issue comes into play. These authors take a big step forward in the treatment of neuropsychiatric diseases by engineering the hematopoietic growth factor erythro-poietin (EPO) to have neuroprotective but not hematopoietic activity.