Developer Parker Hannifin Corp. describes the exoskeleton device – called Indego – as a “powered orthosis worn around the waist and legs that allows individuals with spinal cord injuries to stand and walk.” Clare Hartigan describes it as revolutionary. “People who…
Month: August 2014
Stem cell phase 1/2a clinical trial for cervical complete spinal cord injury
Following successful results from its Phase 1 trial, California company Asterias Biotherapeutics Inc. will now initiate a Phase 1/2a clinical trial of its stem cell product, AST-OPC1, in patients with complete cervical spinal cord injury. The new clinical trial differs…
New study taps into genetics of spinal pain
Pain researchers at the University of Adelaide have launched a new study to investigate the underlying reasons why some sufferers of spinal injury have persistent pain and others don’t. People from South Australia and New South Wales who have suffered…
Stem cell clinical trial for spinal cord injury to start in California
A team at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, backed by the young biotech company Neuralstem, recently launched a clinical trial to assess the safety of neural stem cell transplants in patients one to two years post…
CellNet: Mapping cell fate conversion
The differentiation of engineered stem cells may be imagined as a subway journey, where the genetic equivalents of missing a transfer or getting off at the wrong stop can take your stem cells far off course. Created by scientists from…
UCSD seeks spinal injury patients for 5-year stem cell test
The UC San Diego Health System has put out a call for eight spinal cord injury patients to take part in a five-year test of the safety of a new treatment involving neural stem cell research. The researchers need patients…
InVivo Therapeutics granted patent on scaffolds for SCI treatment
InVivo Therapeutics has received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for U.S. Patent Application No. 14/177,888, titled “Methods and Compositions for the Treatment of Open and Closed Wound Spinal Cord Injuries”. The application…
Dramatic growth of grafted stem cells achieved in rat spinal cord injuries
Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System have reported that neurons from human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) that were grafted into rats after a spinal cord injury have produced…
New standards proposed for reporting spinal cord injury experiments
The difficulty in replicating and directly comparing and confirming the scientific results reported by researchers worldwide who are studying new approaches to treating spinal cord injuries is slowing the translation of important new findings to patient care. Published in the…
First conclusive non-invasive measurement of neural signaling in human spinal cord
Researchers in the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science (VUIIS) have achieved the first conclusive non-invasive measurement of neural signaling in the spinal cords of healthy human volunteers. The researchers used ultra-high field functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to detect…