WA Neurotrauma Research Program (NRP)

SpinalCure Australia pioneered the first Neurotrauma program in WA which funded neurological research through road safety initiatives. The concept has been developed and is now used in Victoria and Sydney.

The WA Road Safety Council recognised the importance of research aimed at minimising and reversing the disabilities associated with neurotrauma, providing vital funding to the NRP since the Program’s inception in 1999.

The NRP has helped facilitate an unprecedented degree of collaboration within the WA neuroscience community.

It has also helped put together key pieces of the central nervous system injury puzzle, earning the NRP an international reputation as an innovative and productive leader in neurotrauma research.

Examples of NRP breakthroughs include the discovery that:

• Tissue death following brain injury is greatly reduced when magnesium chloride and mild hypothermia are applied in combination, and

• Training is essential whilst regeneration is taking place following brain injury to ensure nerve fibres re-grow and re-connect appropriately, allowing return of function.