Northwestern University researchers have shown that a new nano-engineered gel inhibits the formation of scar tissue at the injury site and enables the severed spinal cord fibers to regenerate and grow. The gel is injected as a liquid into the spinal cord and self -assembles into a scaffold that supports the new nerve fibers as they grow up and down the spinal cord, penetrating the site of the injury.

The researcher who found a way to get paralyzed rats back walking is now in Colorado and predicts huge breakthroughs in treatment of human spinal cord injuries in half a decade.

"We've reached a stage where I'm comfortable saying that within the next five years, we will have truly effective new therapies from people with spinal cord injuries," Dr. Stephen Davies said this week.

Scientists believe they are close to a significant breakthrough in the treatment of spinal injuries.

The University of Cambridge team is developing a treatment which could potentially allow damaged nerve fibres to regenerate within the spinal cord.

It may also encourage the remaining undamaged nerve fibres to work more effectively.

Spinal injuries are difficult to treat because the body cannot repair damage to the brain or spinal cord.

A research by Michael Sofroniew, MD, PhD, Professor of Neurobiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has arisen a new hope in millions of lives who get arrested at some period of their life because of paralyses.

This recent studshows that by rewiring nerve fibers near the injury site allowed mice to walk again after a spinal cord injury.

The research, published today in the journal Nature Medicine, showed the brain and spinal cord were able to reorganise functions after a spinal cord injury to restore communication at the cellular level needed for walking.

Even so, experts say, Chinese purveyors of genetically engineered drugs and vaccines -- targeting everything from cancer to Alzheimer's -- are growing at a frenzied pace and are likely to become major actors on the world stage.

A new study shows rewiring nerve fibers near the injury site allowed mice to walk again after a spinal cord injury.

Although these results are only preliminary, researchers say the findings suggest that rewiring may be an easier way to restore walking after a spinal cord injury. People with spinal cord injuries lose the ability to walk because nerves in the spinal cord that send and receive signals to and from motor neurons in the brain are severed and crushed.