SEARCH FOR A CURE: can glial cells around neurons regenerate into functional neurons?

Before you all get excited and start asking when this will turn to reality, a warning. The following research is in its infancy and is years away from revealing its effectiveness. With that in mind, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a five-year $1.8 million grant to Hedong Li, associate research professor of biology, who has worked to convert glial cells, support cells that surround neurons, into functioning neurons.

“Spinal cord injury, like other neurological injuries and disorders, results in damage to neurons, which cannot regenerate themselves,” said Hedong. “However, the glial cells that surround neurons can divide and regenerate. Recent work has focused on how to reprogram glial cells into functional neurons for brain repair. We plan to build on this work and to extend the reprogramming process to spinal cord injury.”

You can read more about this work HERE.