Repair and regeneration

Disease or injury to the brain or spinal cord can lead to a lifetime of paralysis and high dependence care. Our regenerative therapies work to restore function following devastating injuries such as damage to the spinal cord. Gene therapies can break down scar tissue and enable new growth and connections to be made. Using clinically relevant models we focus on high priority functions such as regaining hand use for people with long-term disabilities.

Genetic differences play key roles in how we recover after strokes, damage to the nervous system and how we age. We are committed to understanding these differences and developing new therapeutic strategies to restore normal sensory function and aid injury recovery. We study brain tissue to understand how tumours grow and interact with the surrounding tissues to identify new drug targets.

Our key questions:

• What are the (molecular and cellular) changes that prevent tissue repair in the injured adult nervous system?
• Can we develop (regenerative gene, cell and pharmacological) therapies to overcome scarring, inflammation and chronic tissue pathology after nervous system injury?
• Can we achieve recovery of muscle function and restore movement and sensation after paralysing injuries?

Click people profiles to discover their research: