

My Space: The Hood

Story and photo by Suzanne Kawola/Life@Home


Sally Temple -- founder and scientific director, Neural Stem Cell Institute

WHO: Sally Temple — founder and scientific director, Neural Stem Cell Institute


It may not seem homey, but scientist Sally Temple says “the hood,” a ventilated space where stem cells can be cultured, is her center. Through the hood and the equipment that it houses, Sally can do what she is passionate about: studying stem cells. This past December, Temple’s lab was recommended to receive a $10.6 million grant from New York Sate to continue retinal stem research that could lead to a cure for Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

WHY: The hood is where the conversation about stem cells begins. “For me, it’s the way into a world that otherwise we don’t have access to … this very secret world of the brain. The nervous system, the central nervous system — which is the brain — the retina and the spinal cord, it drives everything. It’s who we are as a person. It’s how we interface with the environment. How do we see and hear? How do we move? How do we behave? It’s really everything. But it’s happening deep inside our bodies. So, if you want to understand what makes that complicated system and how it works, how it goes wrong in disease, there’s no way in from the outside; you’ve got to be able to take out the cells and put them in the culture dish and then look down the microscope.” The hood is where it happens.

“That is the window to me. The window into this world that is so fascinating and is so important for us, but which we don’t have a way of looking at it apart from through that vehicle.”

Rebecca Isenhart