Our staff has deemed the following public research links as significant and/or new findings by the global research community in the search for a cure for paralysis. You can search the database by category, keyword, name, and/or date. Keep abreast of cure research breakthroughs by signing up for our research newsletter.
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Spinal cord injury Veterans can now effectively cough
Posted Monday August 05, 2019
VA doctors are among a team of researchers at the Cleveland Functional Electrical Stimulation Center restoring respiratory muscle function to Veterans and individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). Doctors Anthony DiMarco and Krzysztof Kowalski developed the first method in the world that can activate expiratory muscles (abdominal and lower rib cage muscles), using minimally invasive techniques to produce an effective cough…
Click Here to Continue Reading: US Department of Veteran Affairs
Scientists develop an ‘EpiPen’ for brain and spinal cord injuries
Posted Monday July 22, 2019
This new research could help individuals recover from one of the most dreaded types of injury. • Brain and spinal cord injuries are notoriously difficult to treat, with many existing methods of treatment provoking undesirable side effects. • Now, new research demonstrated a novel technique using nanoparticles to “program” the body’s immune cells such that they don’t cause any unintended damage and promote healing. Since they don’t involve any pharmaceuticals, the use of nanoparticles circumvents the dangerous side effects of other treatments…
Elon Musk says Neuralink plans 2020 human test of brain-computer interface
Posted Thursday July 18, 2019
Neuralink, Elon Musk’s startup that’s trying to directly link brains and computers, has developed a system to feed thousands of electrical probes into a brain and hopes to start testing the technology on humans in in 2020, Chief Executive Elon Musk revealed Tuesday. And it’s working already in animal tests. “A monkey has been able to control a computer with his brain,” Musk said at a San Francisco livestreaming the presentation on YouTube Tuesday, revealing even more research results than the company’s scientists expected…
Click Here to Continue Reading: CNET
10 key updates in spinal cord injury treatment in 2019
Posted Tuesday July 16, 2019
Here are 10 key updates in spinal cord injury research this year. 1. A federal court ordered that Sunrise, Fla.-based regenerative medicine companies US Stem Cell Clinic and US Stem Cell stop providing stem cell treatments to patients. The U.S. alleged that the defendants advertised “stromal vascular fraction” products as stem-cell based treatments for conditions such as spinal cord injuries without FDA approval…
How Two Paralyzed Patients Walked Again Without Surgery
Posted Monday June 03, 2019
Just a decade ago, the Walk Again Project was a blue sky, Hail Mary moonshot at total neural rehab for those paralyzed. The project, a collaboration among fearless neuroengineers, has the lofty goal of giving patients with spinal cord injuries their dignity, autonomy, and lives back in full. Perhaps a testament to the team’s successes—beyond wildest imagination—is just how mundane brain-machine interfaces seem these days: mind-controlled robotic arms or legs don’t even raise eyebrows, and microelectrode “Band-Aids,” which are surgically implanted into the brain or spinal cord to replace severed nerves in paralysis, seem old-school…
Injectable Peptide Might Help Spinal Cord Injury Patients Walk Again
Posted Thursday May 16, 2019
A systemically injectable peptide, which may make it possible to restore lost functions in spinal cord injury patients, is moving toward clinical trials in early 2020.The treatment, which was developed by Jerry Silver, a professor of neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine and advisor for NervGen Pharma, is the culmination of decades of work, and in pre-clinical studies, it has shown robust results in animal models…
Head transplant doctors Xiaoping Ren and Sergio Canavero claim spinal cord progress
Posted Monday April 01, 2019
An Italian doctor announced Friday that he will soon perform the world’s first human head transplant in China because medical communities in the United States and Europe would not permit the controversial procedure. “The Americans did not understand,” Sergio Canavero told a news conference in Vienna…
Marquette professor receives $1.9 million grant to study spinal cord regeneration
Posted Wednesday March 27, 2019
Marquette University professor Murray Blackmore received a $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for a project targeting the regeneration of injured nerve cells in spinal cord injuries. Blackmore is an associate professor of biomedical sciences in the College of Health Sciences, according to a news release. The award marks his third NIH grant of more than $1 million in the past six years…
Curcumin May Be better Than Drugs At Treating Spinal Cord Injuries
Posted Wednesday March 27, 2019
Curcumin/turmeric would appear to be an allstar compound found in food, now it seems as if it is pulling another trick out of its sleeve. Its power to reduce inflammation, fight cancer, and battle depression are impressive enough, but now curcumin has been suggested to help treat spinal cord injuries better than drugs and surgery. Curcmin’s anti-inflammatory power has been well documented, now a new systematic review of available data on how the compound may impact spinal cord injuries published in Neurology Research International suggests curmcumin may make a difference in those suffering with spinal cord injury.
Study Is First to Indicate Impact of Donor Age on Stem Cell Therapy for Spinal Cord Injuries
Posted Wednesday March 27, 2019
The potential for stem cells to reduce damage, regenerate tissue and promote functional recovery after a spinal cord injury (SCI) is being tested in several ongoing clinical trials. However, a new study released today in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine (SCTM) indicates that donor age-dependent stem cell therapy could help optimize cell treatment strategies for clinical translation…
Japanese Researchers Will Use Stem Cells to Treat Spinal Cord Injuries in Groundbreaking Clinical Trial
Posted Wednesday February 20, 2019
There could a new form of treatment in Japan for spinal cord injuries if a newly-approved clinical trial hits the mark. On Monday, a special committee of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in Japan approved a clinical research program at Tokyo’s Keio University to use induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to treat spinal cord injuries. According to the Nikkei Asian Review, this is a groundbreaking first-of-its-kind study. The clinical trial is expected to begin this summer…
Spinal cord stimulator device shows promise in Minneapolis study
Posted Saturday February 20, 2019
Learning to walk again would be great, but for many people with paralysis, shorter bathroom sessions would be a banner achievement. An ongoing clinical study at Minneapolis hospitals called E-Stand is reporting early success using an implantable medical device designed in Minnesota called a spinal cord stimulator to restore volitional movement and autonomic functions in patients paralyzed from the…
BioArctic’s Product Candidate SC0806 for Treatment of Patients With Complete Spinal Cord Injury is now in Phase 2
Posted Thursday February 2019
STOCKHOLM, Feb. 13, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — BioArctic AB (publ) (Nasdaq Stockholm: BIOA B) announced today that the first patient in the second panel of the Phase 1/2 study now has been treated with SC0806. This means that the study with the product candidate SC0806 for complete spinal cord injury has progressed into Phase 2. BioArctic develops a new innovative treatment for patients with complete spinal cord injury. The product candidate SC0806 is a combination of a biodegradable medical device and a drug substance (FGF1). SC0806 is designed to support nerve regeneration across the injured area in the spinal cord. Due to the novelty of the treatment, patients have been included sequentially, in order to monitor the effect and safety…
Medical experts restore movement and autonomic function in patients with complete paralysis
Posted Sunday February 3, 2019
MINNEAPOLIS, MN- January 31, 2019 – There are more than 290,000 people estimated to be living in the United States with a spinal cord injury. Previously, it has been shown that it is possible to restore some function to young and healthy patients within a few years of injury. Now, researchers show spinal cord stimulation can immediately restore some voluntary movement and autonomic functions such as cardiovascular, bowel, and bladder years after a paralyzing injury without any significant rehabilitation…
Time to invest in spinal cord injury research
Posted Tuesday January 22, 2019
Spinal cord injuries (SCI) are more likely in summer when increased numbers partake in more recreational outdoor pursuits. Such was the case of Ash Treseder who suffered a broken neck and severe spinal cord damage after diving from a pier in Shoal Bay, as the Herald reported on Saturday. A week in a spinal ward with other newly and not-so-newly injured patients (before the luckier ones walk out) is, for many, a life-changing experience…
UC San Diego researchers use stem cells, 3D-printing to treat spinal cord injuries
Posted Friday January 18, 2019
Researchers at UC San Diego published a study this week, showing that a mix of 3D printing and stem cell therapy can be used to treat severe spinal cord injuries. Scientists from the schools of engineering, biomedicine and neuroscience collaborated on the project, which they say is a huge breakthrough for people with paralysis…
Helping paralyzed patients walk again
Posted Thursday January 10, 2019
Jeff Marquis, a professional chef, loved nothing better than snowboarding, hiking, and mountain biking on the trails near his Montana home. Then, in 2011, catastrophe struck. Marquis, 29 at the time, was thrown from his bike. “I remember lying on the ground, realizing my hands weren’t working right and I couldn’t get up,” he says…
For Mayo scientist, spinal-injury research is personal
Posted Monday December 3, 2019
In September, Peter Grahn and his Mayo colleagues published a globally recognized breakthrough: using electrical stimulation and therapy exercises to help a paralyzed man walk the approximate length of a football field. Peter Grahn has faced the same question for a dozen years since he dived as a reckless teen into a southwest Minnesota lake, slammed headfirst into the shallow bottom, and floated — face down and motionless — on the surface…
Immune cells could hold key to therapies for spinal cord injuries
Posted Thursday November 08, 2019
Fresh insights into how zebrafish repair their damaged nerve connections could aid the development of therapies for people with spinal cord injuries. Scientists have found the immune system plays a key role in helping zebrafish nerve cells to regenerate after injury. The findings offer clues for developing treatments that could one day help people to regain movement after spinal cord injury. Large immune cells called macrophages are vital for the fish to repair damaged connections, the study found. These cells usually help the body to fight off infections but they also play a key role in wound healing.
Paraplegic patients walk again with spinal cord implants
Posted Wednesday November 07, 2018
Three patients with severe spinal cord injuries are walking again, thanks to a wireless implant which delivers electrical stimulation to the spinal cord. A team based at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) surgically implanted spinal cord stimulators in the patients, with the aim of activating the spinal cord via an electrical pulse.
Epidural stimulation leads to recovery of cardiovascular function in spinal-cord-injured
Posted Tuesday September 18, 2018
For the first time since 2009, Stefanie Putnam is able to prepare — and eat — meals for herself, put the vest on her service dog, Kaz, and drive herself to activities with her horse without losing consciousness or gasping for breath. “My whole life has opened up for me again!” Putnam said. A C4 spinal cord injury in 2009 left Putnam paralyzed from the neck down and suffering from chronic low blood pressure. She relied on medication and tight corsets to maintain her blood pressure, but she still passed out five or six times a day…
New Method to Create Human Neural Stem Cells Can Regenerate Spine in Rats, Study Shows
Posted Tuesday September 18, 2018
Human spinal cord neural stem cells (NSC), created using an innovative method, were seen to regenerate functional neurons in the damaged tissue of rats with spinal injuries, according to researchers. Their study, “Generation and post-injury integration of human spinal cord neural stem cells,” was published in the journal Nature Methods. Spinal cord NSC were already known to have great potential to regenerate damaged spinal cords and re-establish the neural circuitry. However, these cells had never been created in the lab (in vitro)…
University of Minnesota Researchers Develop 3D Printed Device to Treat Spinal Cord Injuries
Posted Wednesday August 15, 2018
In the United States, 285,000 people are currently suffering from spinal cord injuries. Around 17,000 new spinal cord injuries are recorded every year. However, there are no good or precise treatments to help patients regain functions or alleviate pain. This could change, however, following the outline of research recently published in scientific journal Advanced Functional Materials. A collaboration between engineers and medical researchers from the University of Minnesota has resulted in a 3D printed device which may alleviate pain and help regain functions of muscles, bowels and bladder for patients with long-term spinal cord injuries…
Created Line of Spinal Cord Neural Stem Cells Shows Diverse Promise
Posted Tuesday August 14, 2018
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that they have successfully created spinal cord neural stem cells (NSCs) from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) that differentiate into a diverse population of cells capable of dispersing throughout the spinal cord and can be maintained for long periods of time…
New study offers hope of recovery from spinal cord injury
Posted Monday August 13, 2018
Spinal cord injury or damage causes permanent changes in strength, sensation and other body functions. Hope of recuperation is slim to none. Now a new Tel Aviv University study finds the intravenous injection of a potent enzyme, just hours after an accident, has the potential to diminish a cascade of pathological events responsible for neuronal death, such as inflammation and scarring…
Researchers repair acute spinal cord injury in monkeys
Posted Thursday June 06, 2018
Spinal cord injuries are among the most severe and difficult-to-treat medical conditions, usually resulting in permanent disability including loss of muscle function, sensation and autonomic functions. Medical research is now on the cusp of treating severe spinal cord injuries by inducing the repair of spinal nerves, and scientists have made strides in recent years with rodents and primates…
Created Line of Spinal Cord Neural Stem Cells Shows Diverse Promise
Posted Tuesday August 14, 2018
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine report that they have successfully created spinal cord neural stem cells (NSCs) from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) that differentiate into a diverse population of cells capable of dispersing throughout the spinal cord and can be maintained for long periods of time…
In a Break with Dogma, Myelin Boosts Neuron Growth in Spinal Cord Injuries
Posted Friday May 25, 2018
Recovery after severe spinal cord injury is notoriously fraught, with permanent paralysis often the result. In recent years, researchers have increasingly turned to stem cell-based therapies as a potential method for repairing and replacing damaged nerve cells. They have struggled, however, to overcome numerous innate barriers, including myelin, a mixture of insulating proteins and lipids that helps speed impulses through adult nerve fibers but also inhibits neuronal growth…
Click Here to Continue Reading: UC San Diego News
UCLA researchers improve hand, arm mobility in paralysis patients
Posted Wednesday May 16, 2018
UCLA researchers have partially restored hand and arm function in paralysis patients without performing surgery. In a study published in April, UCLA neuroscientists demonstrated a new technique to improve motor function in patients with severe spinal cord injuries. The researchers stimulated the spinal cord with electricity to help paralysis patients regain control over their hands and arms. Since the therapy is noninvasive, the researchers suggest their method may be easier to use and more affordable than other treatments, such as surgery…
Noninvasive spinal stimulation method enables paralyzed people to regain use of hands, study finds
Posted Saturday April 28, 2018
The ability to perform simple daily tasks can make a big difference in people’s lives, especially for those with spinal cord injuries. A UCLA-led team of scientists reports that six people with severe spinal cord injuries—three of them completely paralyzed—have regained use of their hands and fingers for the first time in years after undergoing a nonsurgical, noninvasive spinal stimulation procedure the researchers developed…
People With Spinal Injuries Are Regaining Use of Their Limbs in an Amazing Way
Posted Monday April 02, 2018
Brian Gomez has his fingers wrapped around a small bar attached to three short springs in a rectangular metal frame. It’s similar to the handlebar brake lever of a dirt bike, like the one Gomez was riding in 2011 that malfunctioned, causing a crash that left him paralyzed below the neck. He’s trying to close his hand, but the bar doesn’t budge. Then a switch is flipped, and tiny electrodes implanted on his spinal cord begin firing. “It’s like a fluid shock going through” his body, he says. Gomez straightens in his wheelchair. His forearm twitches, and his grip tightens. The metal bar moves…
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