Currently, there are no reparative treatments available for patients living with a spinal cord injury. The proposed project with Prof. Mooney at Harvard University aims to employ cutting-edge biomaterial expertise to enhance the therapeutic effectiveness of stem cell therapeutics through modulating the viscoelastic properties of the state-of-the-art biomaterial scaffolds to promote spinal cord repair. Throughout this project, materials will be manufactured, their capacity to support trophic stem cells will be assessed and the ability of the stem cell loaded scaffolds to promote neuronal growth will be investigated to demonstrate the development of a novel platform for spinal cord repair.
