Christopher Reeve, (aka Superman), brought world attention to the
devastating effect of paralysis due to spinal cord injury, and through
the foundation he established in his native America, gave practical
assistance to the research community grappling with the incredibly
difficult problem of spinal cord repair. The foundation has continued
to function since his death in October 2004, and although Reeve's fame
focused attention on the cause, his case was only one of the many
hundreds of thousands reported around the world each year.
Nearer home, the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) at NUI
Galway, and the prestigious Mayo Clinic in America, have joined forces
to combine research strategy on spinal cord repair, and according to
Professor Anthony Windebank, one of the leading experts in the field,
the results are encouraging. Professor Windebank, who directs a large
interdisciplinary research team at the Mayo Clinic, joined REMEDI last
year on a Science Foundation Ireland Walton Fellowship. On Thursday
June 8th next, at 6pm, he will deliver a public lecture at the Kane
Building, University College Cork, during which he will reveal how the
new approach to spinal cord repair might finally provide the answers
that could reverse paralysis.
Although he warns that caution is necessary when discussing possible
cures for such a life-shattering injury, Professor Windebank believes
that within the coming decade, the difficulties associated with spinal
cord repair will have been solved and the cure will be at hand. The
joint Irish/American research he is leading combines adult stem cell
research being conducted at REMEDI with a novel tissue engineering
breakthrough pioneered at the Mayo Clinic. "Think of the injury as a
break in an electrical circuit - the big challenge for us is to get the
circuit reconnected. Using a simple biodegradable 'scaffold' which we
have engineered at the Mayo Clinic, and the adult stem cells, we have
had some success in terms of the peripheral nervous system and with
trials on animals. The next step is the spinal cord and I would be
hopeful that a person who sustained a spinal injury this year, through,
say, a sporting injury, could expect that within seven-to-ten years, we
will have made the breakthrough. The 'scaffold' acts as the bridge for
the stem cells to make the reconnection," Professor Windebank said. The
very public and valiant efforts made by Reeve to overcome his injury,
sadly, were not enough, and the cure in which he so vehemently
believed, eluded him.
During his lecture, Professor Windebank will give a step-by-step guided
tour of spinal cord injury from how and why it happens, to the
consequences for victims and the hopes now being generated by
cutting-edge research. He will discuss the various approaches to stem
cell research, why false hopes must not be promoted by the scientific
community and why, at last, spinal cord injury victims and their
relatives may have legitimate reason to believe that help may be closer
than we have dared to believe.
The lecture will take place on Thursday June 8th next at 6pm in Lecture
Theatre G19, Kane Building, UCC. Admission is free and members of the
public are invited to attend.
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