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    Israel’s TAU Breakthrough Offers New Hope To Help People With Paralysis Walk Again

    Researchers
    Sunil Aswal
    April11/ 2022

    New Delhi (The Hawk): Paralysis from spinal injury has long remained untreatable. Could scientific developments get people affected on their feet again sooner than imagined? In a worldwide first, Tel Aviv University researchers have engineered 3D human spinal cord tissues and implanted them in a lab model with long-term chronic paralysis, demonstrating high rates of success in restoring walking abilities. Now, the researchers are preparing for the next stage of the study, clinical trials in human patients. They hope that within a few years the engineered tissues will be implanted in paralyzed individuals enabling them to stand up and walk again. How to Reverse Spinal Injury? "Our technology is based on taking a small biopsy of belly fat tissue from the patient,” explains Prof. Tal Dvir who’s research team led the study. “This tissue, like all tissues in our body, consists of cells together with an extracellular matrix comprising substances like collagens and sugars. After separating the cells from the extracellular matrix we used genetic engineering to reprogram the cells, reverting them to a state that resembles embryonic stem cells – namely cells capable of becoming any type of cell in the body.” From the extracellular matrix the researchers produced a personalized hydrogel, that would evoke no immune response or rejection after implantation. They then encapsulated the stem cells in the hydrogel, and in a process that mimics the embryonic development of the spinal cord, turned the cells into 3D implants of neuronal networks containing motor neurons. The human spinal cord implants were then implanted in two different groups of lab models: those who had only recently been paralyzed (the acute model) and those who had been paralyzed ...

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