_6e98296023b34dfabc133638c1ef5d32-620x480.jpg "Advances in organoids could transform the treatment of spinal cord and peripheral nerve injuries")
A researcher at the University of Binghamton has received more than $ 870,000 in subsidy funds to continue his study of neuroinger technologies to treat spinal cord injuries.
The assistant professor Siyuan Rao, a member of the Faculty of the Department of Biomedical Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences of Thomas J. Watson, looks for better methods to monitor and recover from injuries, which affect more than 15 million people worldwide. Its collaborators include Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
“My colleagues and I are honored that our work is being recognized and supported by these subsidies, which will allow us to advance in innovative bioelectronic technologies to understand and better promote recovery after the injuries of the spinal cord,” Rao said.
One of the subsidies, $ 400,000 of the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, seeks to take advantage of recent research on neuronal probes that include carbon nanotubes conductive to monitor nervous activity. When integrating into bioelectronic devices, the hydrogel allows the registration of electrical signals of the neurons of the spinal cord and the muscles of the legs in mice.
The investigation of spinal cord injuries of the Foundation on the Grant Pilot of the Translation Spectrum (SCIRTS) supports the work of the Junior Faculty. Rao and his collaborators expect to find which medicine would promote functional recovery after injuries.
The National Health Institutes granted $ 470,293 to use multifunctional hydrogel neuronal probes for a better understanding of spinal shock, which is a temporary loss of all neurological function below a spinal cord lesion. The NIH subsidy is carried out through its R21 program, which finances an exploratory, high -risk/high reward research.
Rao arrived in Binghamton in the autumn of 2023 with an award to the career of the National Foundation of Sciences, which supports the Faculty of Early Career that has the potential to serve as academic models in research and education. He moved his laboratory of neurobiological interfaces of the University of Massachusetts Amherst as part of a Suny Suny initiative of $ 6.5 million to grow the faculty research in key areas.
To further finance his work, Rao also recently received a research subsidy from the SH HO HO Foundation for Science and Health Technology with the assistant teachers Qianbin Wang (BME) and Wenfeng Zhao (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering) as collaborators.
