iC4ioa1T 4,3a....tlm Ann Arbor, Michigan Wednesday, September 23, 2009 michigandaily.com NETWORKING CONNECTIONS UNIVERSITY RESEARCH Prof's stem cell trial gets FDA's OK CHRIS DZOMBAK/Daily About 6,000 students and recruiters from 181 companies mingle in the Duderstadt Center during the Engineering Career Fair on Monday and TuesdayH EATING 0 N CAMPUS HillDiningC's crowd problem Landmark research will test new Lou Gehrig's Disease treatment By VALIANT LOWITZ Daily StaffReporter In a major victory for propo- nents of stem cell research, the U.S. Food and Drug Administra- tion approvedthe first-ever human clinical trial of a stem cell treat- ment for Lou Gehrig's Disease last Friday. The study will be lead by a University of Michigan expert in the field. Dr. Eva Feldman, the director of both the U-M Amyotrophic Lat- eral Sclerosis (ALS) Clinic and the Program for Neurology Research and Discovery, helped develop the treatment and will act as principal investigator for the landmark trial. Feldman worked with a team of neurologists to develop the new protocol for injecting stem cells into the spinal chord of patients. This system, researchers hope, will reconnect severed lines of com- munication between the cells of paralyzed ALS patients and delay or reverse some of the disease's effects. In an interview yesterday, Feld- man discussed the study and what lies ahead for her team of research- ers. ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, is a progressive neural degenerative disorder that affects roughly 30,000 Americans, according to the ALS Association. About 5,600 people in this coun- try are diagnosed with the disease every year - or 15 new cases every day. The disease affects nerve cells in the brain leading to the degen- eration of motor neurons in the spinal chord. The patient eventu- ally loses control of all voluntary muscle movement. Cognitive func- tions are usually left undamaged. Notable figures suffering from ALS include renowned physicist Stephen Hawking and musician Jason Becker. "Currently ALS is a fatal neuro- degenerative disease," said Feld- man. "The only available treatment is medication given by mouth." Though these medications slow the progression of the dis- ease, Feldman said, they may only increase survival by around three to five months. The clinical treatment injects stem cells directly into the spinal cord, protecting at-risk motor neu- rons and potentially rebuilding severed connections. See STEM CELLS, Page 7A 700 seats meant to accomodate more than 3,000 residents By VERONICA MENALDI Daily Staff Reporter Waiting to get food at the Hill Dining Center in Mosher-Jordan Hall can be a long process. During prime dining hours - from 12-1 p.m. and 5-6 p.m. - the line to enter the dining center can extend up the stairs that lead to the dining hall. And once inside, students say finding a seat can be an even more demanding task. For example, LSA sophomore Emily Bozeksaid she triesto avoid the cafeteria's peak hours because the food lines can be a pretty big hassle. "When I see a long line I usu- ally just don't go in it," she said. "It really affects what I eat. When I see a line for the regular food that's going out the door I just go and make myself a sandwich because I don't have time." The cause of the bottleneck? The obvious answer is the sheer number of students living near the dining center, which, after the University stopped serving meals in the Couzens and Alice Lloyd Residence Halls, is one of the only cafeterias left in that area. Peter Logan, director of Hous- ing Communications, said the dining center was built to accom- modate about 640 people in the larger dining area and an addi- tional 70 people can find seating in the dining area upstairs around the Victors plaza - so room for See DINING CENTER, Page 3A LGHTS OUT Squirrel starts power outage MICHIGAN STUDENT ASSEMBLY MSA considers health care help Many campus buildings left in dark yesterday evening By MATT AARONSON Daily News Editor A power outage that swept cam- pus yesterday evening was brought on by an unlikely culprit. Most University buildings on the Central and Medical Campuses were left in the dark just after 6 p.m. yesterday when a squirrel shorted a transformer at the University's Central Power Plant, according o Department of Public Safety Spokeswoman Diane Brown. Throughout yesterday night, the Daily received reports of out- ages in the following buildings: Shapiro Library, Hatcher Graduate Library, the University of Michi- gan Museum of Art, Michigan Union, C.C. Little, South Quad, West Quad, Angell Hall, the LSA Building, Tisch Hall, the School of Education, the School of Social Work, the Ross School of Business and the Dennison Building. The outages lasted anywhere from a few minutes to hours, Brown said. "Often when electricity is lost, depending on how the circuits are impacted, it can sometimes ... reboot easily and in other cases it may affect a fuse or something," she said. Aslate as9:30p.m.lastnight,some buildings were still without power, including the School of Education Building, accordingtoBrown. LSA sophomore Kendra Furry said she was in an English class on the ground floor of Angell Hall when the power went out. "Wewere allsortofweirdedout," she said. "The teacher went to look for another classroom we could go in but the lights were all out." Furry said the class was moved outside, but had to be ended early since the teacher needed a chalk- board. Naomi Makofsky, president of Michigan Advertisement and Mar- keting, was leading a mass meeting at the Union when the lightswentoff. "We continued in the dark," she said. "Everyone stayed." She said power in the Union came on after about 15 or 20 minutes. Assembly also addresses budget woes, homecoming By JENNA SKOLLER Daily News Editor A resolution was presented to the assembly last night to support U.S. Senate legislation that would provide health care assistance to students. The legislation, drafted by the Senate Committee on Health Edu- cation Labor and Pensions, would allow individu- als to remain on NOTEBOOK their parents' health care plans until the age 26. If the resolution passes, MSA willeducate the studentbody about the legislation during an MSA Diag Day and will provide students with resources to write their represen- tatives in Congress. "(The legislation is) impor- tant for students in this economy because it's hard to find a job, especially one that provides health care," said LSA Rep. Chris Arm- strong, who authored the reso- lution with Business Reps. Alex Serwer and Jason Raymond. The resolution stated that indi- viduals from ages 19 to 29 make up the largest group of uninsured individuals in the country, which the authors said makes the legisla- tion a significant issue for college See MSA, Page 3A STICKS AND STONES BAR FIGHT Altercation at Charley's leaves one in emergency, another man injail With knife drawn, man misses target, stabs bystander By JACOB SMILOVITZ ManagingNews Editor Just before 1:15 a.m. early yes- terday morning, a fight broke out at Good Time Charley's that ended with one bystander being sent to the hospital with "superficial" stab Uwounds and another man in police custody. The fight began between two men who were standing inside the popular bar located on South Uni- versity Avenue, according to Lieu- tenant Myron Blackwell of the Ann Arbor Police Department. As the two people fought, a knife was pulled at some point which didn't appear to scare the other person in the fight who was "obvi- ously not afraid of the guy with the knife," Blackwell said. After the knife was drawn, the second person said something along the lines of "get that knife out of here," Blackwell said. The first person then made a move with the knife that, as Black- well describes, apparently missed the second person, but struck a third person in the chest causing "very superficial wounds." Thethirdperson,whowas"total- ly not related to anything" accord- ing to Blackwell, is not believed to have played any role in the original fight. That person is expected to be treated and released from the hos- See CRIME, Page 7A Members of the Groove percussion group including Kinesiology freshman Eric Harbour (left), Engineering senior Patricia Schuster (center) and LSA freshman Griffin Working (right) practice last night in the Regents' Plaza. 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