FRONTIERS RESEARCH STARTING AT THE PATIENT END OF THE PIPELINE. Focussing on the patient as an enduser can fast-track translation into the clinic of a cell transplantation therapy to repair the injured spinal cord. THE CHALLENGE TO DELIVER
Perry Cross looked us in the eye a few years ago and asked,
When are you, as scientists, going to translate the olfactory cell transplantation therapy for spinal cord injury into a clinical product?’ Perry Cross is a ventilated quadriplegic and director of the Perry Cross Spinal Research Foundation so he knows what the spinal cord injury community wants. Perr y has seen research and media releases showing that olfactor y glial cell transplantation to repair the injured spinal cord has produced some very promising results. He has seen Professor Emeritus Alan Mackay-Sim awarded Australian of the Year in 2017 for his work in 2002 that tested the safety of olfactory cell transplantation for spinal cord injury in humans. Yet while recent lab-based research was creating great discoveries, it was not addressing the key bottlenecks needed to translate the therapy into the clinic. It was Perry’s direct message to the heart of us scientists that changed us from being discovery researchers to being translational researchers.
44 INSPIRE 010 | 2018