Front Lines

Stem Cell Advances

Embryonic research trailblazer
shares potential treatments.

Helping Israel's Soldiers

The presence of Metro Detroit young leadership members did not go

unnoticed at this year's Friends of the Israel Defense Forces annual
casino night in New York City. The Dec. 6 event was attended by 1,500
people who gathered at the Metropolitan Pavilion to meet friends, dance

to the music of Busta Rhymes, enjoy the food and camaraderie, play

casino games and help raise more than $500,000 for the soldiers of

the IDF.
In attendance were members of the newly formed FIDF Detroit Young

Leadership Division as well as 50 Metro Detroiters. Friends of the IDF
is the American partner of the Association for the Wellbeing of Israel's
Soldiers. AWIS supports social, educational, cultural and recreational

programs and facilities for the young men and women soldiers of Israel.

Judi Schram, Dr. Reubinoff and A. Alfred Taubman

Detroiters attending the gala included Matthew Ran, Stefenie Sasson,
Matthew Shiffman, Jeremy Sasson, Brooke Lasky, Garrett Brooks,
Michael Colman, Jordan Sasson and Jody Schostak. Shown are Laura

Schwartz, Yoav Schaefer, Stefenie Sasson, Melissa Groisman and

Martin Fischhoff

Special to the Jewish News

Ann Arbor

0

ne of the earliest pio-
neers in embryonic stem
cell research, Benjamin
Reubinoff, M.D., Ph.D., was in Ann
Arbor on Jan. 28 to present the second
annual A. Alfred Taubman Lectureship.
The director of Human Embryonic
Research Center at the Hadassah
University Medical Center in Jerusalem,
Reubinoff intrigued an audience of
several hundred people with the latest
advances that his laboratory in Israel
has made in turning the new medical
technology into potential treatments for
neurological diseases.
Reubinoff explained how he had
been able to apply neurons derived
from human embryonic stem cells
in experiments with animal disease
models. He has injected these nerve
cells into mice with multiple sclerosis
or age-related macular degeneration
and was able to delay the onset or
reverse the damage of the diseases.
Although he cautioned that human
applications of this stem cell therapy
could still be years in the future, the
results are exciting and encouraging.
Reubinoff was in town as part of
the Taubman Institute-Israel Initiative,
which seeks to create collaborations
between leading medical research-
ers at U-M and Israel. As part of this
effort, Reubinoff met with Taubman
Institute Director Eva Feldman, M.D.,

Ph.D., to discuss joint research on ALS.
Attending the lecture were Taubman
Institute Founder and Chair A. Alfred
Taubman, U-M President Mary Sue
Coleman and Executive Vice President
for Medical Affairs Robert Kelch.
Also on hand was a large contingent
from the Greater Detroit Chapter of
Hadassah, which came out in force to
hear Reubinoff's lecture and to sponsor
a luncheon with U-M leaders afterwards.
"We are so proud of all that Dr.
Reubinoff and Hadassah have accom-
plished," said Judi Schram of West
Bloomfield, immediate past-presi-
dent of the Greater Detroit Chapter
of Hadassah, who helped organize
the luncheon. "Putting Ben and Eva
together, Hadassah and the Taubman
Institute, really gives us the dream
team of medical research:'
Besides his own research, Reubinoff
touched on two other topics in
the news: the passage of Proposal
2 expanding embryonic stem cell
research in Michigan and the first-
ever clinical trials of a therapy derived
from human embryonic stem cells,
for which biotech firm Geron recently
received FDA approval.
In his closing remarks, Bloomfield
Hills philanthropist A. Alfred Taubman
summed up the audience's reaction
to Reubinoff's work: "It makes abun-
dantly clear how crucial stem cell
research is to medical science'

Martin Fischhoff is managing director of

the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research

Institute.

Noaam Blum.

Congressman Talks Issues

U.S. Rep Gary Peters, D-West
Bloomfield, will host a listening ses-
sion at the Jewish Community Center
of Metropolitan Detroit in West
Bloomfield on Thursday, Feb. 19, from
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. This event will
provide an opportunity for residents
to participate in an informal discus-
sion on the economy, Israel's conflict
with Hamas and other issues resi-
dents would like to discuss. The event
is free and open to the public.
This will be among a series of sim-
ilar events Peters will host through-
out Oakland County this year.

European Attitudes

New York/JTA — A study from the
Anti-Defamation League found little
change in European attitudes toward
Jews over the past two years.
The study, released Tuesday and
based on telephone interviews with
3,500 respondents in seven European
countries, found that in six of those
countries anti-Semitic attitudes had
changed little since a similar ADL
study was conducted in 2007. In the
seventh country, the United Kingdom,
there was a "marked decline" in the
percentage of respondents who believe
that three of four anti-Semitic stereo-
types presented are "probably true."
In announcing the study, the ADL
noted that "millions" of Europeans
believe in classical anti-Semitic ste-

reotypes, including that Jews have
too much power in business and
finance and talk too much about the
Holocaust. It also said that nearly half
of those surveyed "believe Jews are not
loyal to their country," a finding based
on a question that asked if Jews are
"more loyal" to Israel.
"This poll confirms that anti-
Semitism remains alive and well in
the minds of many Europeans:' said
Abraham Foxman, ADL director.
Overall, the study found that anti-
Semitic feeling was most prevalent in
Poland, Hungary and Spain.

CAJE Shuts Down

New York/JTA — The Coalition for the
Advancement of Jewish Education will
close at the end of February.
Monday's e-mail announcement
comes a month after CAJE, for 30 years
the primary professional development
organization for congregational and
Hebrew school teachers, said it would
not hold its annual conference.
Its annual conference on Jewish
education drew some 1,000 educators,
but in January, CAJE said it would
not hold this year's event because
Jewish agencies could not afford to
send teachers and the organization
could not drum up enough funding
to pay for the conference. CAJE said
it was seeking funds to pay off some
$500,000 in debt incurred to hold con-
ferences over the past several years.

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February 12 • 2009

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