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Tim Reynolds, co-founder of Wall Street's Jane Street Capital, and his wife Caroline, donated $ 1 million to the Kessler Foundation to launch innovative research in its new column stimulation center spinal. The Reynolds presented this gift in recognition of the compbadionate care provided by Barbara Benevento, MD, of the Kessler Rehabilitation Institute and the work of the spinal cord research team. Mr. Reynolds was injured in the spinal cord in 2000 as a pbadenger in a car accident and was rehabilitated at the Kessler Institute.
The Kessler Foundation's Spinal Stimulation Center will explore two revolutionary recovery therapies after spinal cord injury: transcutaneous and epidural vertebral stimulation. Both treatments involve the application of electrical stimulation to the spinal cord to activate the nerve circuits, thus allowing the injured nerves to transmit signals to the peripheral nerves and muscles.
Preliminary studies show that by combining epidural stimulation with intensive physical therapy, paralyzed people were able to stand during stimulation and two of them found voluntary movements. Together, transcutaneous and epidural spinal stimulations seem promising to transform care and healing of spinal cord injuries. The Center will be unique in its ability to study both approaches to vertebral stimulation.
With the support of the Reynolds, the Kessler Foundation applies its extensive expertise in mobility research to this emerging field and further studies the implications for neuroplasticity and adaptation after stimulation therapy. This research will explore the neural mechanisms that underlie the motor function and side effects of spinal cord injury, thus enabling the development of new treatments for people with spinal cord injuries.
"The perception of paralysis by the scientific community is changing rapidly.The Kessler Foundation provides a platform to advance critical clinical research to improve the lives of all people living with a spinal cord injury," said Reynolds. . "Caroline and I are happy to share a role in that."
The Reynolds are funding three studies of people with chronic spinal cord injury:
1-Research epidural stimulation capacity with the help of an implanted pacemaker to facilitate the recovery of multiple organ systems in people with a complete SCI of the spinal cord spinal.
2-Use of new and unique transcutaneous stimulation protocols to understand how the gains in hand and grip function achieved during treatment can be maintained.
3-Research how simultaneous application of cerebral and transcutaneous vertebral stimulation can facilitate spinal cord repair and functional recovery.
What scientists learn from these three studies will form the basis for surgical implantation projects of epidural spinal stimulators by neurosurgeon Robert Heary, co-director of the Reynolds Spine Lab at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
"We have a lot to learn about the effects of stimulation on the injured spinal cord," said Steven Kirshblum, physician, physician and director of the spinal cord injury program at the Kessler Institute, director of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Center in Rutgers New Jersey. School of Medicine and Chief Medical Officer of the Kessler Foundation. Dr. Kirshblum and Gail Forrest, Ph.D., are co-directors of the Foundation's Center for Spinal Cord Stimulation. The center team works closely with leading experts from the University of Louisville and UCLA. "By working together, we will find solutions faster," said Dr. Kirshblum.
This timely donation will allow us to discover how to maximize the gains in function, but most importantly how to translate these gains into a greater independence of the community of people living with a spinal cord injury. "
Dr. Steven Kirshblum
With their support of the Kessler Foundation, Tim and Caroline Reynolds are advancing important groundbreaking work on epidural and transcutaneous spinal stimulation, which promises to transform the world's view of spinal cord injury.
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