This was in the Denver paper yesterday. I could hardly believe that it stated that human testing might be available in a couple of years. Years, not decades! I hope this really happens.
AURORA - A year ago, 9NEWS first told you about some exciting research happening at the University of Colorado's School of Medicine. A researcher was making breakthroughs treating spinal cord injuries in rats.
The CU doctor's research, which was recently published, involved changing stem cells, which can become any kind of cell in the body, into a more specific type of cell. He then injects those into the site of a spinal cord injury in rats.
Dr. Stephen Davies showed us images of spinal cord injuries and how he was able to get nerves to grow across the site of the injury.
The rats in his experiments regained the use of their legs.
Getting the research published is a big step, but it's not ready yet for people.
The researchers say they're working hard to relate these advancements to people and they hope to start some human testing in the next couple years.
Researchers say this might help repair other types of nervous-system damage including strokes, Parkinson's disease and others.
(KUSA-TV © 2011 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=5&sqi=2&ved=0CDsQFjAE&url=http://www.9news.com/news/article/184945/188/CU-doctor-publishes-breakthrough-research-on-fixing-spinal-cord-injuries-&ei=sU9xTez5EIjSsAPPnp23Cw&usg=AFQjCNHdK_digJmsQpPYJU5g4zKScNr8AQ&sig2=xv5qzIkb12ZBbi-T53f6NA
AURORA - A year ago, 9NEWS first told you about some exciting research happening at the University of Colorado's School of Medicine. A researcher was making breakthroughs treating spinal cord injuries in rats.
The CU doctor's research, which was recently published, involved changing stem cells, which can become any kind of cell in the body, into a more specific type of cell. He then injects those into the site of a spinal cord injury in rats.
Dr. Stephen Davies showed us images of spinal cord injuries and how he was able to get nerves to grow across the site of the injury.
The rats in his experiments regained the use of their legs.
Getting the research published is a big step, but it's not ready yet for people.
The researchers say they're working hard to relate these advancements to people and they hope to start some human testing in the next couple years.
Researchers say this might help repair other types of nervous-system damage including strokes, Parkinson's disease and others.
(KUSA-TV © 2011 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=5&sqi=2&ved=0CDsQFjAE&url=http://www.9news.com/news/article/184945/188/CU-doctor-publishes-breakthrough-research-on-fixing-spinal-cord-injuries-&ei=sU9xTez5EIjSsAPPnp23Cw&usg=AFQjCNHdK_digJmsQpPYJU5g4zKScNr8AQ&sig2=xv5qzIkb12ZBbi-T53f6NA