{"id":1996,"date":"2017-10-10T11:13:37","date_gmt":"2017-10-10T18:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-researcher-kim-staats-looks-for-the-pattern-in-sporadic-cases-of-als\/"},"modified":"2023-11-19T12:23:37","modified_gmt":"2023-11-19T20:23:37","slug":"usc-researcher-kim-staats-looks-for-the-pattern-in-sporadic-cases-of-als","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-researcher-kim-staats-looks-for-the-pattern-in-sporadic-cases-of-als\/","title":{"rendered":"USC researcher Kim Staats looks for the pattern in sporadic cases of ALS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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USC researcher Kim Staats looks for the pattern in sporadic cases of ALS<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
\n Cristy Lytal<\/span>\n \n October 10, 2017<\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n \n
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Kim Staats (Photo by Cristy Lytal)<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n \n \n \n\n<\/div>\n \n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\r\n\r\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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USC postdoctoral researcher Kim Staats found her calling when a childhood neighbor was diagnosed with ALS, a paralyzing and fatal neurodegenerative disease. At the time, Staats was pursuing bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in kinesiology at Free University Amsterdam (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), with plans to either practice or teach physical therapy after graduation.<\/p>\n

As a kinesiology student, Staats asked herself: What if people with ALS do a lot more exercise? Would that give them a muscular buffer against this paralysis?<\/p>\n

\u201cI wrote a literature review on that, just for my courses, and realized very quickly that I couldn\u2019t understand the system properly without understanding neurosciences better,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Determined to understand ALS\u2014which eventually claimed the life of her neighbor, his mother and his brother\u2014she undertook a second master\u2019s degree in neurosciences at Free University Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

After graduation, Staats, who is Canadian and Dutch, spent a year teaching English in Tokyo. She then pursued her PhD at the University of Leuven in Belgium, where she joined the laboratory of Ludo Van Den Bosch, under the co-mentorship of Wim Robberecht. She studied mice as a way to understand the molecular mechanisms that cause motor neuron death in ALS, and to explore possible treatments.<\/p>\n

She pursued postdoctoral training for two years in the laboratory of Roel A. Ophoff at UCLA, where she studied the human genetics underlying ALS.<\/p>\n

She then chose to continue her postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Justin Ichida at USC. She was drawn to the clinical relevance of the research in the Ichida Lab, which explores ALS mechanisms and screens therapeutic drug candidates using patient-derived motor nerve cells.<\/p>\n

Shortly after arriving in the Ichida Lab, Staats was awarded a three-year, $180,000 development grant from the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful for the MDA grant, which is truly enabling my ALS research at USC,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is also a bit of a compliment, as it\u2019s an honor to know that I can bring in grants sometimes, so at least there\u2019s a reason I could believe I could be a principal investigator, a PI with my own lab someday.\u201d<\/p>\n

With this support, she is exploring the causes for what is known as \u201csporadic\u201d ALS\u2014which occurs in people with no relatives known to have the disease.<\/p>\n

In collaboration with another postdoctoral researcher, Toru Sugawara, Staats has identified a candidate gene that might contribute to sporadic ALS. She is now working to clarify how a mutation in this gene might contribute to the death of motor nerve cells, the chief symptom of ALS. By studying the role of this gene, she aims to increase the understanding of not only what causes ALS, but also how to treat it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNinety percent of all ALS patients, on average, are sporadic, and most of the work is being done on the familial cases because, of course, it\u2019s easier. It\u2019s genetic. We can fathom this,\u201d said Staats. \u201cSo I really like the MDA project because it allows us to look at the sporadic component.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to challenging herself in the laboratory, Staats enjoys exploring Los Angeles\u2014from the hiking trails in the mountains, to cafes in Downtown neighborhoods including the Arts District and Little Tokyo. She also appreciates the city\u2019s colorful history, and lives in a converted hotel, built in 1927, in Koreatown.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has a penthouse on the roof in which Clark Gable lived and Ronald Reagan,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s old-fashioned Hollywood. We have a mail chute that still works. And we have the first rooftop pool in all of LA. It\u2019s tiny. It\u2019s not even heated. But it\u2019s a historical part of LA, and I love that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the future, whether she remains in LA or explores new opportunities abroad, Staats will remain devoted to the study of ALS and the quest for better treatments.<\/p>\n

\u201cALS is one of the most devastating diseases someone can encounter or suffer from. There\u2019s no cure available. There are two drugs currently available, but they only prolong the life of an ALS patient by a number of months,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":1997,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-1996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-release","tag-stem-cell"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUSC researcher Kim Staats looks for the pattern in sporadic cases of ALS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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