Brain irradiation is the standard of treatment for most brain tumors. Irradiating the brain prolongs patient survival, but often results in long term memory and functional impairments. These deficits are driven by radiation injury to myelinating cells, oligodendrocytes. One method to prevent deficits is to replace myelin by transplanting in new stem cells to the brain. We will test the safety and effectiveness of human glial cells to protect the brain in a model of radiation‐induced brain injury during therapy for brain cancer.

Cancer is a difficult disease to treat because it is hard to detect within the body. Cancer sneaks in to normal cells and changes them to cancer cells over time. The immune system mistakes cancer cells for healthy cells, so they are not attacked.