The Pennsylvania Department of Health is awarding $1 million in grants to six recipients researching spinal cord injuries, according to a Sept. 27 news release.
"Spinal cord research most often focuses on the prevention of spinal cord injury. The intent of these grants is to provide financial support to cultivate research for the functional improvement of people with spinal cord injuries," Acting Secretary Alison Beam said.
The grants are part of the health department's Commonwealth Universal Research Enhancement program and are funded through a request for application with the intent to fund spinal cord injury research.
The funds were granted to:
- Tatiana Bezdudnaya, PhD, at Drexel University, for the study "Improving Breathing with Limb Muscle Stimulation after Cervical SCI"
- Simon Giszter, PhD, at Drexel University, for the study "Enhancing Regeneration Efficacy after SCI with Robot-Rehab Coupled Optogenetics"
- Michael Lane, PhD, at Drexel University, for the study "Respiratory Training Promotes Plasticity & Recovery after SCI"
- Lian Qiang, MD, PhD, at Drexel University, for the study "Gene Therapy via Spastin Overexpression to Promote Axon Regrowth for SCI Repair"
- Shaoping Hou, PhD, at Drexel University, for the study "Rebuilding Supraspinal Regulation to Restore Voluntary Micturition Reflex"
- Ying Jin, PhD, at Drexel University, for the study "Glial Progenitor Grafts to Promote Regeneration and Functional Recovery after SCI"