Asterias Biotherapeutics, is being awarded $14.3 million by CIRM to test oligodendrocyte progenitor cells or OPCs in SCI OPCs have two important functions in the body; they help stimulate the growth of nerve cells after an injury, and they produce…
Month: May 2014
STAP lead author agrees to retract one of the controversial stem cell papers
Reports in Japan suggest Haruko Obokata, of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, has agreed to retract one of two controversial papers in which she claimed to have created a new type of stem cell, known as stimulus-triggered…
Paralysed hand able to move again through brain to spinal cord link
For the first time scientists have been able to restore the ability to grasp with a paralysed hand using spinal cord stimulation. Wellcome Trust-funded researchers at Newcastle University, UK, working with macaque monkeys, have shown that by connecting the brain…
Researchers hope to mimic the response of infants with spinal cord injuries
The spinal cords of infants respond more efficiently to injury than do those of adults. Dr Catherine Gorrie of the University of Technology, Sydney, is teasing out the mechanisms behind this plasticity in the hope to mimicking it in adult…
InVivo Therapeutics begins first clinical trial of Neuro-Spinal Scaffold
InVivo Therapeutics has begun shipment of its degradable polymer Neuro-Spinal Scaffold for spinal cord injury (SCI) patients, for initiation of the company’s first clinical trial. In preclinical studies, the Neuro-Spinal Scaffold promoted cell adhesion, neurite sprouting, the growth of remodeled…
A third of professional rugby players have suffered spinal injuries equivalent to a car crash!
A third of professional rugby players have suffered either moderate or severe vertebral fractures. These shocking statistics were found to be the same across both league and union. These findings have come from a joint research project between Leeds Met…
Xander's 1000Km ride for a cure
Over $20,000 raised! Go Xander! Not your average weekend cycle ride! In June 2014 Xander Beccari cycled from Brisbane to Wollongong — a journey of over 1000km — to raise funds for spinal cord injury research. Xander explains, “One of my good…
Sensory gains reported from StemCells trial for spinal cord injury patients
The Phase I/II trial is treating a small number of chronic spinal cord injury patients with HuCNS-SC cells administered through direct transplantation into the spinal cord. “We are seeing multi-segmental gains and a return of function in the cord in multiple patients.…
European consortium to use electrical stimulation to treat spinal cord injury
Researchers at the NEUWalk have been developing electrical stimulation devices similar to those used by the exciting research of Profs Edgerton ad Harkema which have receive so much media attention recently. The consortium has now received a AU$13 million grant to develop…
Second clinical study site for InVivo's neuro-spinal scaffold
InVivo Therapeutics are running a clinical trial to test their scaffold which is designed to facilitate nerve growth after spinal cord injury. A second centre—The Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC, is now open for enrollment for patients with acute spinal…