Spinal cord injuries (SCIs) occur when the spinal cord, neck, or back is traumatically damaged, cutting off muscle and nerve communication with the brain. Hundreds of Virginians suffer from spinal cord-related injuries each year, which makes any research into treatment highly valued. As a result of this interest and need, SCI research has drastically improved within the last few years. Governments, educational institutions, and hospitals have also been providing financial incentives for promising advancements in treatment.
On October 11, the National Institute of Health awarded one of these incentives, known as the EUREKA (Exceptional Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration) grant, to Dr. Axel Nimmerjahn, a researcher at the Salk Institute. This grant, worth $1.38 million over the course of four years, is to help Dr. Nimmerjahn advance his—as well as the medical community’s—understanding of how SCIs affect brain activity.
Over the course of the next four years, Dr. Nimmerjahn and his colleagues at the Salk Institute will be developing tools to better study this relationship on a cellular level. The hope of this study is that once a concrete relationship between the brain and spinal cord is developed, it can lead to new and improved treatments for degenerative spinal cord diseases, tumors, injuries, and infections.
The Virginia spinal cord injury lawyers at Shevlin Smith wish to congratulate Dr. Nimmerjahn on receiving this prestigious award. We would also like to extend our thanks and gratitude for his continued work in searching for improved treatments for spinal cord injury victims.