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 This has been an exciting and productive year for Miami Project Researchers. Important progress has been made on several fronts concerning our Clinical Trial Initiatives. New information regarding the use of human Schwann cells for the treatment of acute and chronic spinal cord injury has been obtained that continues to support this exciting cell therapy for future trials. Recent findings indicate that Schwann cell transplantation even when initiated months after injury has significant reparative effects on the injured spinal cord and promotes functional outcome. Also, two recently published clinical studies have provided encouraging data showing that therapeutic hypothermia is both safe and improves outcome in severely injured spinal cord patients. The Miami Project is therefore at the forefront of medical discoveries and advancing new strategies to both protect and promote recovery in people after spinal cord injury.
In addition to these clinical studies, investigators are continuing to conduct cutting-edge medical research to discover new compounds that promote axonal regeneration and identify novel targets for drug therapy. Using high content screening technologies targeting brain and spinal cord injury, new drugs are being identified that may one day be used in clinical trials to protect and repair the nervous system alone or in combination with cellular transplantation strategies. Deep brain stimulation techniques, previously utilized to treat patients with neurodegenerative diseases are now showing promise in treating spinal cord and brain injury. These new approaches may provide alternative strategies to improving function in patients with paralysis. Conditioning and rehabilitation studies are continuing to make major differences in the lives of people with spinal cord injury today. Importantly, these strategies offer real hope for successful clinical trial design for the future. There has never been a more exciting time in the spinal cord injury research field, and we look forward to greater advances and discoveries in the coming year. We thank your all for your continued support and commitment to our research program.
Thank you for this support and we all look forward to an even more exciting 2009.
W. Dalton Dietrich, III, Ph.D. Scientific Director
Kinetic Concepts Distinguished Chair in Neurosurgery
Professor of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Cell Biology and Anatomy
Vice-Chair for Research, Neurological Surgery
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