The VA Gordon Mansfield SCI Consortium

 产品说明： 该项目旨在开发一种基于干细胞的治疗方法，以修复慢性损伤的脊髓，并最大限度地恢复功能。这项工作的成功发展可以导致从动物模型到临床实践的临床前观察的翻译。此外，我们的目标是开发创新的康复策略，以促进有意义的功能恢复，并客观地确定基于干细胞的治疗与康复相结合是否会优化功能结果。我们将专注于从批准的胚胎干细胞系衍生的多能神经祖细胞，以及从成人成纤维细胞直接转分化的多能神经干/祖细胞（诱导多能干细胞，IPSC的一种形式）。这项工作将使用啮齿动物和非人类灵长类动物的脊髓损伤的横断和挫伤模型。此外，我们建议由独立于本项目科学家联盟的研究人员进行复制研究。这是位于美国西海岸的研究脊髓损伤的领先实验室之间的密切合作，包括圣地亚哥VA医疗中心和UCSD的Tuszynski小组; San弗朗西斯科VA医疗中心和UCSF的Beattie/Bresnahan小组; UCLA的埃杰顿小组; UC Irvine的Havton和Rinkensmeyer小组;以及位于加州大学戴维斯分校的加州地区灵长类动物研究中心。拟议的实验是集体设计和执行的这种合作，在脊髓损伤研究的一个前所未有的努力，通过密切合作和互动，共同进行实验，推动该领域向前发展。在整个过程中，该项目将受益于合作者之间的自由信息交流。

 DESCRIPTION: The project aims to develop a stem cell-based therapy to repair the chronically injured spinal cord and to maximize functional recovery. Success development of this work can lead to translation of pre-clinical observations from animal models into clinical practice. Moreover, we aim to develop innovative rehabilitation strategies to promote meaningful recovery of function, and objectively determine whether a combination of stem cell-based therapies with rehabilitation will optimize functional outcomes. We will focus on multipotent neural progenitor cells derived from approved embryonic stem cell lines, and on multipotent neural stem /progenitor cells directly transdifferentiated from adult fibroblasts (a form of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell, IPSC). The work will use both transection and contusion models of spinal cord injury in rodent and non-human primate species. Moreover, we propose replication studies by an investigator that is independent of the consortium of scientists in this project. This is an intensely collaborative effort among leading laboratories researching spinal cord injury located on the west coast of the United States, including the Tuszynski group at the San Diego VA Medical Center and UCSD; the Beattie/Bresnahan group at the San Francisco VA Medical Center and UCSF; the Edgerton group at UCLA; the Havton and Rinkensmeyer groups at UC Irvine; and the California Regional Primate Research Center located at UC Davis. Proposed experiments are collectively designed and performed by this collaboration, an unprecedented effort in spinal cord injury research to move the field forward through close collaboration and interaction on jointly performed experiments. Throughout, this project will benefit from a free exchange of information among the collaborators.