Spinal cord repair from endogenous stem cells in the spinal niche

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Spinal cord injury in humans leads to permanent loss of function. This is despite the presence ofstem cell like cells in the spinal cord. In contrast, zebrafish regain full swimming capacity after alesion and their spinal stem cells make new neurons that contribute to the repair.Here we plan to identify the signals acting on the stem cells in the fish to then use them to improvethe reaction of stem cells of humans (in a dish) and spinal cord repair in rat models. In the courseof the project, we will develop tools that will aid our research, but also contribute to the work of ourcolleagues in the community: We will develop small proteins that can be used to drive stem cellsinto a repair type, we will adapt a new microscopy technique to monitor repair in live fish and ratsas it happens, and we will develop new stem cell lines directly from human spinal cord material.This project will identify repair factors that could then be taken into clinical trials. Our teamcomprises colleagues from the UK, Germany, Belgium, France and Poland, among them basicneuroscientists and neurosurgeons.