| UF receives $1M for research, thanks to Naples couple |
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By LIZ FREEMAN 8:55 p.m., Thursday, May 22, 2008 A Naples family has donated $1 million to the University of Florida to research experimental stem cell therapy for potentially treating children with blindness. Robert and Debbie Forbis, owners of Naples-based Premier Electric, have made the $1 million gift to the College of Medicine’s Department of Ophthalmology to study the safety and effectiveness of umbilical cord stem cell therapy for children with optic nerve hypoplasia. A leading cause of congenital blindness in newborns, optic nerve hypoplasia happens when optic nerves from the eye to the brain do not develop properly during pregnancy. The Forbis’ grandson, Taylor Forbis, was born last June. Two months later, his parents, Bobby and Sarah Forbis, realized Taylor was not looking at things and he was diagnosed with the disease. The gift will establish the Taylor Forbis Optic Nerve Hypoplasia research fund at UF to help determine if the experimental umbilical cord stem cell therapy is safe. The therapy, where the stem cells are administered intravenously and injected in the spine, is done in China and other parts of the world but is not approved in the United States. The UF research will not involve humans. It will involve mice that are genetically engineered with a disease similar to optic nerve hypoplasia, said Dr. Shalesh Kaushal, assistant professor of ophthalmology at UF who will be part of the research team. “How often, how much, for how long, all of those are unknowns,” Kaushal said, adding that the details of the research are being developed. “We will first do the research needed to prove that this works, as required by the U.S. government, and then we will do clinical trials to get it FDA approved,” Robert Forbis said during a press conference in Gainesville on Thursday. His grandson has not undergone the experimental treatment in China, and his vision has been improving as he gets older but he may need the treatment someday, Forbis said. Many other families whose children are afflicted with the eye disease do not have the ability to travel to China for the therapy or wouldn’t do so until it is proven safe, he said. He hopes Gov. Charlie Crist can persuade Florida lawmakers to come up with matching dollars to help with the research, and others come forward with private donations. After Taylor Forbis was diagnosed with the disease, his great-grandfather, the late Mel Forbis, began researching potential treatments over the Internet. He had traveled to Thailand in 2006 for adult stem cell therapy with his own stem cells for congestive heart failure. His research led him to a Missouri mother who had taken her 6-year-old daughter to China for umbilical cord stem cell therapy for the same disease as Taylor’s. “I spoke to (the mother) last year. She was being inundated with e-mails and phone calls from around the world,” Robert Forbis said. The child’s vision improved after a series of intravenous and spinal injections with umbilical stem cells and has 20/800 vision, which can be described as seeing 10 fingers from 20 feet away. She now wears glasses, he said. That convinced him to go to China to visit the hospital where the youngster had the therapy. Later, he brought the girl and her mother, and three other children with the disease and their families, to UF to be examined by the ophthalmology researchers. He also brought the Chinese medical team to meet with the UF researchers. Click for Original Article |
All information is © 2010 by the Cell Therapy Foundation
