Clinical, Translational and Basic Research on Brain and Spinal Injury and Disease

Dear Colleagues,

Brain and spinal cord injuries are a significant share of trauma-related causes in the neurosurgical world. While advances have been made within the past few decades with regard to regaining partial loss of motor movement and providing external mechanical support for damaged neurological function, there is still a gap in our knowledge on directly treating and improving the damaged spinal cord and/or brain.

Spinal cord injury is associated with many life-threatening complications that surgeons must encounter when dealing with patients' short- and long-term care. Therefore, a push for the advancement of spinal cord and brain injury research would dramatically reduce the incidence of debilitating outcomes that patients face with such a diagnosis.

The inherent inhibitory nature of the central nervous system due to limited plasticity and inhibitory factors produced from myelin degradation is widely recognized. There is a variety of therapeutic strategies that are currently being investigated which are not limited to mesenchymal stem cells, neural stem cells, biomaterials, or antibodies. Some of these therapies have shown promise but failed to deliver in clinical trials and need more time and research to translate such promise into measurable and favorable outcomes.

Therefore, we will consider articles of all types that explore the clinical, translational, and basic research on the brain and spinal injury and disease. In addition, we are seeking contributions that investigate novel, emerging methods of rehabilitation for spinal cord injuries.

Dr. Brandon Lucke-Wold
Dr. William Dodd
Topic Editors