Current Projects

• Acute Traumatic SCI Study

  More than a quarter million Americans live with spinal cord injuries, which result in variable sensory and motor paralysis. Health care costs for these patients exceed $3 billion per year, in addition to significant physical, psychological and social costs.

  The Department of Neurological Surgery at Ohio State University Wexner Medical is actively screening patients in a clinical trial for a new investigational treatment that is hypothesized to safely and effectively improve motor function following acute traumatic cervical spinal cord injury. The drug, a compound known as VX-210 (Vertex Pharmaceuticals), is applied directly on the injured spinal cord and could potentially block a molecule that plays a major role in preventing nerve regeneration.

  Participants must be between 14 and 75 years of age and scheduled to undergo a spinal decompression/stabilization surgery within 72 hours of the initial injury. Subjects will be randomized into three groups: two will receive the compound at different doses and another will receive a placebo. At least four follow-up evaluations within 12 months will be undertaken for all participants.

  Ohio State Wexner Medical Center is currently the only hospital in Ohio enrolling for this study.

  For additional information and enrollment criteria for the VX-210 study at OSUWMC, contact Francis Farhadi at 614-366-4961 or visit clinicaltrials.gov.

• NIH Sponsored Spinal Cord Injury Training Program

  CBSCR faculty coordinate an annual Spinal Cord Injury Training Program (SCITP). This program was established in 2003 as a contract from the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Beginning in 2014, The Craig H. Neilsen Foundation became the sole sponsor for the SCITP. Each summer, selected participants from research laboratories around the world travel to The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, where they receive hands-on and classroom training in best practices for spinal cord injury research. The program is highlighted by personal interactions and discussions with individuals with SCI. Click here for more information.