courtesy of Michigan Baseball

Come join Michigan Baseball and Michigan Medicine’s ALS Center of Excellence as StrikeOut ALS returns to the diamond at 6 PM on May 17.  You don’t want to miss Pranger ALS Clinic Director, Dr. Stephen Goutman throwing out the first pitch of the in-state rivalry game against the Michigan State Spartans.

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Michigan Baseball’s coaching staff has been significantly impacted by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. U-M Head Coach Erik Bakich and U-M Assistant Head Coach Nick Schnabel both played for East Carolina University during the 1999 and 2000 seasons under the direction of Head Coach Keith LeClair. In 2001, LeClair was diagnosed with ALS and he passed away in 2006. To honor their coach’s memory, both Bakich and Schnabel wear the number 23 jersey at U-M.

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Drs. Zachary Simmons, Eva Feldman & James Albers at #IceALS 2019

This year the game offered a Big Ten showdown versus Penn State, which also brought together the two schools’ ALS Center Directors, who are longtime friends and colleagues. In fact, Penn State Health’s Zachary Simmons, M.D., served as Michigan Medicine’s Eva Feldman’s, M.D., Ph.D., fellow at U-M in the early 90’s.

FEATURE STORY I DISCUSSION ON ALS: In the week before the game, Drs. Feldman and Simmons sat down to reminisce about their time together in the 90s, and where ALS research is headed today.

To celebrate the legacy and life of Scott Matzka, his two children, Owen and Reese, dropped the ceremonial puck, flanked by Dr. Feldman and Stephen Goutman, M.D. Fox Sports 1, which nationally televised the game, captured this moving sight and spoke about the importance of the game on this clip:

“[Coach] Mel Pearson said: ‘Some moments are bigger than hockey, they’re bigger than Michigan hockey or bigger than the game. That was one of them.’”—speaking about comments from current U-M Head Coach Mel Pearson, who initially recruited Matzka to U-M, after Matzka visited the locker room following U-M’s win last year, five weeks before his death.

Just as Coach Pearson aptly noted, this game was about so much more than hockey. During the first intermission, the voice of Michigan Hockey Al Randall sat down with Dr. Feldman:

During second intermission, Dr. Feldman was also interviewed on the big screen about the importance of #IceALS and the progress of ALS research:

The Monday after the game, Dr. Goutman, visited Sam Webb and Ira Weintraub on WTKA AM 1050 to recap this special event, including the experience of escorting Matzka’s kids for the puck drop, which included sharing a very special moment with Owen Matzka:

“His son looked up at me and pointed out the 1998 championship title and just said: ‘that’s my dad’s team!’ He was just smiling and having a great time.”  That’s really what it is all about.

The Program for Neurology Research & Discovery (PNRD) has received a new three-year $100,000 grant from the ALS Association to support the work of Research Assistant Professor Benjamin Murdock, Ph.D., who is studying natural killer (NK) cells as potential culprits in driving Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

Benjamin Murdock, Ph.D.

Dr. Murdock’s work focuses on the immunology of ALS, and with this grant, he will be able to build upon his already groundbreaking research to examine NK cells more closely and the role they play in the disease’s progression, with the goal of creating new therapies.

Initially when Eva Feldman, M.D., Ph.D, recruited Dr. Murdock to her laboratory to study the immune system’s relationship to ALS, she was convinced that  immune cells contributed to the disease’s progression.  “I needed an immunologist in our group, and Dr. Murdock was our choice. It was one of the best decisions of my career.” Working with Dr. Feldman, Dr. Murdock discovered that NK cells were not only higher in ALS patients, but they increased at a very significant rate.  Around the same time, a paper was published by researchers at The Ohio State University that showed that motor neurons in patients with ALS are susceptible to NK cell mediated injury. As evidence mounted for the importance of NK cells, PNRD shifted its focus to more closely study their relationship to ALS.

NK Cell

A large portion of the ALS Association grant will focus on the potential of Tofacitinib, a drug therapy intended to regulate negative NK cell activity in the treatment of ALS, to suppress NK cell activity. In vitro studies on both human NK cells and an NK cell line will seek to determine whether Tofacitinib can inhibit NK cell activity.  Preliminary data suggests that in fact it can. Tofacitinib has already been approved by the FDA to treat rheumatoid arthritis.  Dr. Feldman has obtained a patent to repurpose this drug for use in ALS.

Dr. Murdock will also use the grant to identify potential treatment windows for ALS patients.  For instance, he believes that NK cells might be active early in the disease’s progression, being among the first cells to damage motor neurons and promote inflammation.  If this is the case, early intervention would be important, introducing a drug like Tofacitinib as soon as possible after diagnosis.

In addition to identifying treatment windows, Dr. Murdock and the PNRD lab hope to also use the data they obtain to identify which patients would best benefit from the drug.  Initial indications from both human and mouse models indicate that female patients are more influenced by NK cells than males. This work will help determine subsets of patients who may be more responsive to NK cell targeted therapy.

In recounting his academic background, Dr. Murdock says that a career in immunology was not his original plan. Instead, it was something he fell into. He began his undergrad career at UCLA majoring in Engineering but disliked it. He wanted to remain in a STEM subject, so he switched his major to Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.  During his junior year immunology was added as a mandatory class requirement. He loved the course and chose immunology as his focus from graduate school on.

Immunology – and ALS – is lucky to have him.

Other research from Benjamin Murdock, Ph.D.:

A private evening of friends, science and fun kicked off the festivities Friday night at the Michigan League, highlighted by a program hosted by CBS sportscaster Tracy Wolfson, who is a Michigan Wolverine herself. In an emotional video Coach Fisher spoke about the importance of supporting those fighting this disease and how his son Mark is such an inspiration, and still works with the basketball program at San Diego State. Current head coach at that university, Brian Dutcher – who served under Coach Fisher at both U-M and San Diego State – flew in from the West Coast to support the cause.

Dr. Eva Feldman, director of the ALS Center, described her laboratory’s research, which the weekend would be benefiting, in particular the repurposing of an immunotherapy drug already approved by the FDA to be used to treat ALS patients. To cap off the program, Fab Five member and new U-M basketball coach, Juwan Howard , spoke with Wolfson about what it is like to be back on campus and why he took the time to support Hoops Fight ALS.

Listen to Dr. Feldman’s Recap of the Weekend on AM 1050 WTKA

Other notables from the basketball family at the evening’s event were Jerod Ward, Maceo Baston, Chris Young, Dion Harris and Terry Mills, along with Ira Weintraub from WTKA Sports Talk 1050 and John Richelew and Bruce Madej from U-M Athletics. Karen Goldberg, who was an event sponsor attended, along with Ronnette Coleman, Tim Brown, Marty Fischhoff of Detroit Public Television, Dr. Adam and Beck Rubin and ALS Center National Advisory Board members, Scott Pranger, Harold Burrell Jr., Christina Clark and John Scarbrough. Also from the ALS Center for Excellence and Dr. Feldman’s Program for Neurology Research and Discovery were Dr. Stephen Goutman, Dr. Mike Ritter, Dr. Ben Murdock, Sandy Lemkin, Dr. Philip Choi, Brian Coltman, Jayna Duell, Betsy Taylor, Matt Trevor, Shoshanna Fischhoff and Scott Dent.

On Saturday, a number of members from both the basketball and ALS families headed out to Moose Ridge Golf Course in South Lyon, kindly donated by Bill Shortt DDS, for a scramble tournament, which was won by a group of four including Scott Pranger, Harold Burrell Jr., former U-M basketball player, Mark Hughes and Ronald Reinke.

Hoops Fight Against ALS was capped off by a week-long online auction, which was open to the public. The items that were available to bid on included some unique experiences, including a four-day, three-night package for the 2019 Battle 4 Atlantis Basketball Tournament in the Bahamas; seven-day lodging in the Turks & Caicos and premium tickets to sporting events – U-M football tickets on the 50-yard-line against  Notre Dame, the latter of which came with a catered tailgate; U-M basketball tickets against Michigan State; courtside seats for the Detroit Pistons and players club seats for the Detroit Red Wings.

A special thank you to the sponsors of Hoops Fight ALS: David Forbes, Numotion Foundation, VReps, Bank of Ann Arbor, Gail and Art Danto, Kathy and Tom Goldberg and Charlie Rothstein.