The Arizona Biomedical Research Commission (ABRC)
recently awarded Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s
Hospital and Medical Center and Arizona State University (ASU) two
grants worth $450,000 each to study spinal cord injuries and brain
tumors.
Barrow’s grant application for
spinal cord injury research scored the highest of all submitted grants.
Researchers at Barrow and ASU will use the grant to develop new
hydrogels (liquids that gel) to stimulate the ends of damaged fiber on
the spinal cord to grow and bypass the injured or scarred area of the
spinal cord.
Surgically placed at the site of spinal cord
damage, the hydrogels form themselves into scaffolds, which will
hopefully enable the cells and the ends of damaged fiber to cross the
other side of the spinal cord avoiding additional damage of the
infected area.
"This study uses the latest in new materials
from the bioengineering field that will be put to use against one of
our most pressing problems in neurosurgery," says Mark Preul, M.D.,
Barrow Newsome Endowed Chair of Neurosurgery Research, who heads the
grant along with bioengineer, Alyssa Panitch, Ph.D.
The brain
tumor grant will be used to focus on developing proteins that stimulate
the immune system to attack malignant brain tumors. The grant money
will also investigate if the protein works with melanoma skin cancer,
which has a high tendency to metastasize to the brain.
"After
decades of work, we have made little progress against malignant brain
tumors. We need to develop ways that the body’s own systems can
fight against these tumors. Melanoma is of particular interest to us
because of a high rate of this dangerous skin cancer occurs in
Arizona," says Dr. Preul, principal investigator of the study.
Both studies will be done in collaboration with Arizona State University and will take place over the next three years.
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Barrow is world-renowned for its
outstanding neurological and neurosurgical care. The center is
routinely recognized as one of the top ten neuroscience centers in the
nation by U.S. News and World Report.
