Dr Rodney Rietze research titled Repairing the damaged nervous system by activating resident stem cells in the nervous system to make new nerve cells was conducted at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research and the Queensland Brain Institute (2002-2003).

The aim is to discover drugs which can stimulate stem cells, resident in the brain and spinal cord, to make new nerves to replace those lost in head and spinal cord injury and neurological diseases such as Motor Neuron Disease, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.