The Reality
It could happen to any of us. A car accident, playing sport or falling off a ladder can damage the nerves in the spinal cord and its ability to send and receive messages from the brain. It robs a person of their freedom and independence and turns lives upside down.
Everyday someone, somewhere in Australia will have their lives devastated by spinal cord injury. More than 15,000 people in Australia live with spinal cord injury. The impact on a person's life and loved ones is devastating. The financial impact is huge too, costing the Australian economy $2 billion per annum in direct costs and economic losses.
The opportunity
What if there was a cure? A real opportunity to repair the spinal cord and restore function? Now there is. Project Edge is an exciting collaboration between the University of Technology, Sydney and Spinal Cure Australia to fund the first clinical research program outside of the U.S. of ground-breaking research by Professor Reggie Edgerton and his colleagues at UCLA. In a world first, they have managed to re-awaken the spinal cord and successfully restore feeling and function to over 20 paralyzed people using neurostimulation.
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Project Edge
Of all the most promising avenues and medical advancements and research for spinal cord injury, the most outstanding results to date are being achieved by Professor Reggie Edgerton at UCLA in the area of neurostimulation. According to Prof. Reggie Edgerton neurostimulation is like a hearing aid for the the spinal cord. Without the stimulation it can’t hear the messages coming from the brain.
Project Edge is bringing Prof Edgerton to Australia with a 5 year aim of eventually developing a treatment and protocol package for people with SCI through rehabilitiation centres in Australia.
The project will be led by UTS Professor Bryce Vissel and will collaborate with the Stem Cell, Neuroinflammation and NeuroMovesExercise Research. Early indications are that neurostimulation may benefit other neuromotor conditions including stroke and Cerebral Palsy.
The project is looking to raise $15 mio to fund the research. Recently Lloyds of London and Swiss Re hosted a function to encourage the insurance industry to get behind the research.
Rob Summers story
Rob was a 20 year old athlete when an accident injured his spine at the C6 vertebrae leaving him a quadraplegic. Doctors told him he would never stand again and he said "That's not going to fly for me". Find out what he did to change his situation:
You can find out more about Project Edge
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