Year 1
In the first 12 months of this project we have made important progress in the following areas:
1) Identified the lead embryonic stem cell type for potential use in a translational clinical program.
2) Replicated the finding that implants of ES-derived neural progenitor cells from this lead cell type extend axons out from the spinal cord lesion site in very high numbers and over very long distances.
3) Begun efforts to scale this work to larger animal models of spinal cord injury.