A scientific breakthrough may enable paralysed people to walk again as researchers have created human spinal cord implants.
The 3D implants, made using human cells (taking a small biopsy of belly fat tissue from the patient), had an 80% success rate in restoring the ability to walk in paralyzed mice in the laboratory.
Tissue samples from patients are transformed into functioning spinal cord implants through a process that mimics the development of the spinal cord in human embryos. Researchers are preparing for clinical trials in humans and hope that in the coming years the engineered tissues will be implanted into paralyzed people enabling them to stand up and walk again.
The study was led by Professor Tal Dvir’s research team at the Sagol Centre for Regenerative Biotechnology, the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Tel Aviv University.
More at the source: Bloomberg
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