Grant: Fellowship: Bisby (Prize)

The central nervous system (CNS) is comprised of the brain and spinal cord. CNS injuries are very complicated and unfortunately lead to permanent disability. For example, patients with spinal cord injuries typically spend the rest of their lives confined to a wheelchair. Despite several decades of research in this field there is currently no treatment available for spinal cord injury patients. Researchers and clinicians are trying to find new avenues for enhancing repair and improving outcomes. The main contributing factor is the poor regeneration of axons (essential connections between neurons) in the CNS. This limited axon growth in the CNS is largely due to the inherently inefficient capacity for axons to regrow. The current literature suggests that networks of genes are responsible for their growth but they are not known at this stage. Through this work, I want to explore those genes and the factors regulating them. Once I identify these genes, I wish to manipulate them (by adding and deleting) and thereby transform CNS neurons into an actively growing state. I will introduce these genes into the poorly growing CNS neurons of a mouse strain in order to convert them to robustly growing CNS neurons. Additionally, I will analyse the impact of these factors/genes in an animal model of CNS injury to confirm their impact on recovery. I hope that understanding the mechanisms of regrowth and identifying the responsible genes will help researchers to advance this field and allow them to explore new promises for clinical use.