Spinal Cord Research Center

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating condition that affects about 250,000 Americans with 12,000 cases added annually. These individuals, mostly young men 16-30 years old, remain paralyzed for the rest of their lives, require continuous medical treatment and are often dependent on others. About half the injuries occur as a result of motor vehicle crashes and more than half result in tetraplegia (paralysis from the neck down). Initial costs following injury range from $200,000 to $700,000 with additional lifetime costs exceeding $2 million for the most severe injuries. The total estimated costs in PA alone are $500 million per year for just medical and supportive care with the government being responsible for over 37% of these costs. Although there are no effective treatments for SCI there is growing evidence that protection of the spinal cord from subsequent damage and promoting repair can be induced by drug therapy, transplants and rehabilitation. Promising research in SCI has also revealed that even a modest improvement will have a significant impact on quality of life and health care expenses.

More than 25 years ago, a group of faculty members at the Medical College of Pennsylvania (now the Drexel University College of Medicine) joined together to study ways of treating SCI .The group evolved into one of the premier SCI research centers in the world, with innovative and multidisciplinary programs for studying the pathophysiology of spinal cord injury and developing of therapeutic strategies to promote recovery of function. This group, recognized by Drexel University as a Center of Excellence in Spinal Cord Research, has taken a leading role in the use of the combination of therapies to address multiple aspects of spinal cord injury and neurodegeneration. Investigators in the Center apply recent advances in stem cell biology, neurotransplantation, physiology of locomotion, rehabilitation protocols and pharmacological interventions to open new avenues for more effective treatments. The Center has established some of the best core facilities for SCI research in the U.S., that support innovative techniques of animal surgery, cell and molecular biology, histology and imaging and in particular behavior and physiological analysis of motor, sensory and autonomic function. It has also established a training program in SCI for students, scientists and clinicians. Some of the unique qualities of the Center relate to the vision of building multidisciplinary programs by including not only neuroscientists but also biomedical engineers for insight into motor control, physical therapists for a rehabilitation perspective and a wide range of physicians to integrate clinical applications in critical disciplines such as urology (bladder function), radiology (MRI), neurology and Psychiatry (outcome measures), orthopedics and neurosurgery (transplantation and clinical trials). Our mission is "to bridge the gap between the discovery phase and clinical application by developing promising research strategies and translating effective and responsible protocols to treat patients whose function has been limited by spinal cord injury".