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SC fund tops $3.1 million for spinal cord research, therapy Since its establishment in 2000, the S.C. Spinal Cord Injury Research Fund  collected more than $3.1 million to promote research that will develop better understanding of causes and effective treatment strategies for paralysis, sensory loss, and other consequences of spinal cord injury and disease.   Money for the fund comes from a $100 surcharge on DUI convictions, averaging right at $60,000 per month for the fund’s first 53 months as of June 2005. Obligated and expended funds totaled $2,226,942 for research development and funded projects and $121,414 in administration and other costs. To date, there were 25 research projects awarded funds for 12 to 24 months, with an additional eight under review for possible awards in July 2005.    “We’re moving forward,” said James Krause, Ph.D., the fund’s scientific director. “People have worked hard to improve the lives of people with spinal cord injury.” He said that the research SCIRF funded is expanding into additional research and the fund is bringing people with expertise into the state. He spoke to the importance of creating a “critical mass” of expertise on all aspects of spinal cord injury, treatment and rehabilitation to foster collaboration leading to better lives for people with disabilities.   Krause, with Spinal Cord Injury Research board chair Brian Cuddy, M.D., and Mark Kindy, Ph.D., who serves with Krause as associate scientific director, was speaking between sessions of the fund’s First SCSCIRF (to become) annual Scientific Conference, May 13.   The conference featured oral and poster presentations of principal investigators of projects funded by SCIRF and an opening address by Shepherd Center (Atlanta) founder James Shepherd whose disabling accident provided the backdrop for what eventually became a multi-million dollar, 100-bed specialty hospital. Its services span a continuum of care dedicated to helping people with disabling illnesses and injuries. The center’s reach into neurological injuries and illnesses extends beyond acquired brain injuries to programs for people with Guillian-Barre syndrome, transverse myelitis and post-polio syndrome. Its expanded outpatient services facility provides a home for its recently opened MS Center for people with multiple sclerosis.   Also addressing the gathering were Barth A. Green, M.D., Lois Pope Life Center and the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, and Scott Whittemore, Ph.D., of director of the Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center at the University of Louisville. In his talk, “The Myths and Realities of Stem Cell Repair for Spinal Cord Injury,” Whittemore explained the lure of embryonic stem cells as offering the best chance of getting a stem cell to turn into the desired cell for the therapy. But they are also allogenic, raising the problem of rejection. Adult stem cells are not.   “That’s why the scientific community wants to do therapeutic cloning,” he said. “When you make an embryonic stem cell from the nucleus of the patient, then you have an embryonic stem cell that fits in there.” Whittemore said that the downside of therapeutic cloning is that it places the scientist squarely on the slippery slope to reproductive cloning.   “It’s a tough issue,” he said. “I appreciate the ethical issue involved, but I wonder how many people who are against it would come down on the side of the scientists if it were their 5-year-old daughter who could be cured.” He suggested it may be easier to take the moral high ground when it doesn’t affect one personally.   Cuddy said that the conference—the first in what he expects will be an annual event funded by SCIRF—served to bring together researchers, clinicians, therapists and educators in a forum to focus on the tragedy of spinal cord injury and illness and to shed light on what is being done to improve life for the physically disabled.   He said that all three of South Carolina’s research universities are participating in SCIRF-funded projects. He said that advancements in spinal cord injury research advances knowledge in neuro-degeneration and neuro-restorative research as well, ultimately helping people suffering from neuromuscular diseases as well.     “This conference demonstrates the progress being made in spinal cord injury research, and by bringing national leaders in several areas, we’re seeing that cutting-edge research bears promise for the future,” Cuddy said. We feel that by holding this conference annually, we’re being good stewards of the public’s money.”     Krause said that advancement in spinal cord injury research is a slow, step-by-step process that may not seem encouraging at first look, but it is more important to be realistic. “There are people who are desperate for that miracle cure.” He said that it is better not to raise hopes beyond what solid research can deliver.     Friday, June 24, 2005 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.