Regeneration

There are two main focuses within the Regeneration theme in the Wolfson CARD: spinal cord injury and stroke. Spinal cord injury results in severe disability and there is currently no cure. However, recent advances have been made in identifying and targeting factors that prevent repair after injury. For example, work in the Bradbury lab has led to the development of an enzyme therapy that can digest inhibitory molecules associated with the spinal injury glial scar. This therapy has shown great promise in pre-clinical studies and can promote axon regeneration, neuroplasticity, neuroprotection and, most importantly, recovery of motor function. Determining the mechanisms underlying these effects and developing optimised and targeted therapies is a key focus of ongoing studies within the Regeneration group. Another key focus of the Regeneration group is to optimise the function of surviving systems to promote repair, since spontaneous functional recovery is known to occur in the majority of spinal injured and stroke patients. Strategies to enhance these processes by promoting plasticity and thus inducing compensatory changes in undamaged pathways and reorganisation of spinal circuits are likely to be a major component of future therapeutic intervention.