U2FP CureCast

Today's guest is Dr. James Krause. James is a Distinguished University Professor and Director of the Center for Rehabilitation Research in Neurologic Conditions at the Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. Krause has worked in the field of spinal cord injury throughout his career focusing on research designed to improve health, employment, and participation for people with SCI and other disabilities... More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-124.html

Today's guest is Dr. Chet Moritz. Chet is the CJ and Elizabeth Hwang endowed professor in the departments Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rehabilitation Medicine and Neurobiology & Biophysics at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle. He also serves as the Co-director for the Center for Neurotechnology. Chet's work in Transcutaneous Spinal Stimulation (TSS) heavily contributed to the Onward Medical Arc-EX device which recently gained FDA approval. More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-123.html

Today we are re-airing another episode of the Unexpected Journey Podcast. This is such a great, quick little interview with my friend, colleague and Development Director at U2FP, Quinn Brett. In this episode... More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-122.html

On today's episode, we are re-airing an episode of The Unexpected Journey podcast. This one is an interview of yours truly. It focuses on my journey to SCI advocacy after my accident in 2017. We talk about my life before and immediately after my wreck, and why I became active in this effort for more and better research outcomes. I also talk about the mission, passion and initiatives here at U2FP. More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-121.html

Welcome back to our final episode in this three-part series about the barriers to progress and the treatment of spinal cord injuries. We're once again joined by neurosurgeon, researcher and lived experience advocate, Dr. Kent New. In this episode, we finish up our discussion of the many barriers to developing treatments, focusing primarily on regulatory agencies. We then move on to consider potential solutions to the problems we've uncovered in... More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-120.html

This is our version of a special bulletin. And we are interrupting our regularly scheduled programming with this update on a major setback for SCI research. On March 15th, Congress passed a bill which eliminated arguably the most effective Spinal Cord Injury Research program in the world... More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-119.html

Welcome back to our second episode in this three-part series about the barriers to progress in the treatment of spinal cord injuries. We're once again joined by neurosurgeon, researcher and lived-experience advocate, Dr. Kent New. In this episode, we discuss the problems associated with preclinical, as well as early- and late-stage clinical trials. If you missed it, you can ... More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-118.html

Today's conversation is the first in a three part series with Dr. Kent New on the barriers to progress for SCI treatments. Kent is a neurosurgeon and researcher who was educated at Georgetown and Duke Universities. His career led him to brain tumor research and clinical practice at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida and then to overseeing clinical research at Ascension St. Vincent's Hospital. In 2014 Kent suffered a C6 level spinal cord injury from a motor vehicle accident. He is uniquely qualified through his... More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-117.html

Today I'm talking with Jason Biundo. Jason is a lived-experience graduate student at Harvard Medical School. He earned a dual degree in Neuroscience and Biology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. It's worth noting that some of that degree was earned from a hospital bed while recovering from his spinal cord injury at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. Beyond this, Jason is a personal friend of ours and U2FP advocate. We begin our conversation exploring... More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-116.html

Today we're talking with Dr. Jacob Goldsmith. Jacob is a research scientist at the James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Our conversation will explore the interesting relationship between Testosterone and Spinal Cord Injury. More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-115.html

In Chapter 8 of Kate Willette's advocacy bible, “Don't Call it a Miracle,” she tells us the story of a human cell with special, regenerative characteristics. A cell that, although not a stem cell, perpetually repairs and replaces neural tissue throughout our life. It's called an olfactory ensheathing cell (OEC) or glia (OEG). Parts of the story seemed like the wild west with questionable scientists taking some risky chances, pulling cells out of people's noses and injecting them into their spinal cords, leading to catastrophe. Other, more conservative scientists were doing work that resulted in almost unbelievable results in... More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-114.html

We're back with round two of stem cells and their application to Spinal Cord Injury, with our tour guide, Alina Garbuzov. In this episode, we wrap up our overview of stem cell types, sources and potential uses in spinal cord injury. We also field some listener questions from part 1 and talk about the work that Alina is doing at the Mark Tuszynski Lab at UCSD. We realized after the fact that these two conversations are... More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-113.html

This is the first in a two-part series covering the role of stem cells in spinal cord injury with Dr. Alina Garbuzov. Along with the experience she brings as a person living with an SCI, Alina is a researcher, working in the Mark Tuszynski Lab at the Center for Neural Repair at the University of California, San Diego. Today's conversation is part one, where we introduce Alina and learn about her... More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-112.html

Today we're talking with Dr. Jen Dulin from Texas A&M University. Dr. Dulin is a spinal cord injury researcher, but this discussion is a little different as it's not about the active research she's doing in her lab. Instead, we discuss a project that U2FP pitched to Jen a couple years ago: could we do an analysis on the last 15 years of spinal cord injury research funding trends, themes, and categories, so we can understand - in detail - what's happened over that time period. Dr. Dulin happily said yes to our idea, and we then incorporated several people with SCI to help her with that project. And the data we've helped her compile so far looks to be... More info here: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-111.html

Today we are talking to Arash Bayatmakou and Dale Hull, the organizational heads of NorCal SCI and Neuroworx, respectively. NorCal SCI is a resource non-profit serving the SCI community of northern California. Neroworx is an outpatient rehabilitation center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The main focus of our discussion is the lack of access to outpatient rehabilitation after SCI and the creative collaboration these organizations have crafted to address it. We also chat about their upcoming symposium, which aims to find solutions to the rehab crisis. This conversation is a great example of how the SCI community can identify creative solutions to the problems that affect all of us with lived experience of this injury. More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-110.html

Today we are talking about Brain Computer Interfaces (or BCI) with Luke Bashford and Daniel Kramer. Daniel is a neurosurgeon and faculty member at the University of Colorado, Anschutz. He is also the co-founder of the Neural Engineering Research and Design of Colorado (or NERDco). Luke is a researcher in neuroscience and neurotechnology. He is co-affiliated with the University of Colorado and Newcastle University in the UK. More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-109.html

Today's guest is Dr. Gordon Mitchell, a professor of neuroscience at The University of Florida. He's also the founder and director of the University's Center for Breathing Research and Therapeutics. In this episode, we discuss the role of intermittent hypoxia and its effect on neuroplasticity and recovery of respiratory and motor function. more info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-108.html

Today's guest is Dr. Elizabeth Bottorff, a postdoctoral researcher in the biomedical engineering department at the University of Minnesota who is studying sexuality after spinal cord injury. More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-107.html

Today's episode is a brief primer on how this podcast got started and the kind of conversations you can expect here. You'll learn about our hosts - Matthew Rodreick and Jason Stoffer – their relationship to SCI, why they do this work, what they hope this podcast can achieve and how this work is an extension of the broader mission of U2FP? Yes, it's a great place to start for new listeners. But regular listeners may learn something new, particularly about our hosts, Matthew and Jason, and what compels them to keep doing this difficult but necessary work. More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-106.html

Today's episode is my conversation with Dave Marver, the CEO of ONWARD. No doubt you've heard of ONWARD. We discuss the recent news about their transcutaneous stimulation device and their effort to gain regulatory approval, along with the results from their Uplift TRIAL. You'll find links to the trial and related articles on our website to help understand what that is. More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-105.html

This week we are talking with Jake Beckstrom, who is U2FP's Co-Manager of the Cure Advocacy Network along with our Wisconsin advocate Michael Moore. It's a great conversation where we talk about the drama that took place this year with our legislative work in Wisconsin, where we past our $3M SCI Research in the Wisconsin Assembly, but were unable to then pass it in the Senate. It was a nailbiter that came down to the wire, and Jake and Mike had front row seats for the dramatic, if disappointing end. But they are undeterred. And they stopped by to talk to us about how they are still chasin the cheddar in Wisconsin.

Our guest today is Leann Rees. Leanne is a physical therapist with a PhD from Melbourne, Australia. She's been in the business of rehab and reintegration for 30 years, 20 of which were spent in spinal cord injury. Leanne's doctoral thesis examined many aspects and consequences of the media portrayal of spinal cord injury and that is what we're talking today. This is a fascinating discussion about the historical and contemporary portrayals of SCI and how that portrayal influences the SCI Community and general population. More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-103.html

Today we're talking with Dennis Bourbeau. Dennis is a highly regarded clinical and academic researcher in the area of bowel/bladder/and sexual function. He works for the Louis Stokes Veterans Administration Hospital and the Metro Health County Hospital in Cleveland, OH. He's also a faculty member at Case Western Reserve University. Dennis has graciously agreed to come back to chat with us a second time and give us an update on his work, specifically in bladder control devices. We also discuss the critical importance of connecting with and understanding the patient population, the process of getting a device to the market, and much more. More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-102.html

Today we are talking to V. Reggie Edgerton, a Professor Emeritus of Nuerobiology at UCLA and co-founder of the spinal stimulation company, SpineX. Reggie Edgerton is a giant in the field of neuromodulation. Some have called him the father of spinal stimulation, and his influence can be found in... More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-101.html

Today we are celebrating our 100th episode of U2FP's CureCast podcast! No guest would be more appropriate for that celebration than Kate Willette. Kate and Mathew started the podcast 6 years ago and she co-hosted the first 34 episodes. Kate also wrote the book “Don't Call it a Miracle” which is required reading for anyone with a spinal cord injury. Kate was dragged into the world of advocacy when her husband, Bruce, became a quadriplegic in 2001 and she refused to sit idly by. Being an educator and writer by training, she took the bull by the horns and demystified the science of spinal cord injury, giving our community tools for advocacy. More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-100.html

Today we are bringing you part 1 of the “Your Voice Here” series. This collection of interviews was recorded during U2FP's 2023 Science and Advocacy Symposium in Minneapolis. In this episode, you'll hear from Physical Therapist, PhD and Researcher, Leanne Rees; Neuroscience student Jason Biundo; and Motivational speaker and Onward Marketing Consultant, Scott Chesney. We cover a variety of topics in this episode, among them: Leanne's research on the media portrayal of SCI; how Jason's climbing accident focused his interest in neuroscience to spinal cord injury research translation; and Scott's wisdom from 38 years of lived experience with an SCI. In the way of topic warning, we do briefly discuss suicidal ideation in our third conversation with Scott, if that is something you would prefer to avoid. I hope you enjoy hearing these conversations as much as I enjoyed being a part of them. More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-99.html

You might be wondering why we are interviewing the founder of the National Breast Cancer Coalition, Fran Visco. Well, it turns out that she is the person primarily responsible for the formation of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP) out of the Defense Department. One of their many programs is SCIRP - the Spinal Cord Injury Research Program. Fran was the first peer reviewer for breast cancer after CDMRP was formed. Today's interview conversation was extraordinary for illuminating the parallels and insights between two very different disease conditions. It was so insightful to listen to someone who has been advocating in a different space - breast cancer (Fran is also a survivor of breast cancer) - for some 30 plus years, but who has run up against the same barriers in the research system that we in the SCI space deal with as well. To talk with Fran about the similarities in our work and advocacy efforts was fascinating and fantastic. As many of you know, we in the SCI community always hear the money refrain: that what we really need is “more money, more money, more money.” Well, cancer receives a lot more money than spinal cord injury, obviously. But what's fascinating, and what our conversation shows, is that... More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-98.html

Today we are talking with Jordan Squair and Mark Anderson about their September 2023 paper published in the journal Science: “Recovery of walking after paralysis by regenerating characterized neurons to their natural target region”. The work is akin to the first gardeners figuring out how to make plants grow. But instead of plants, it's injured neurons. Squair and Anderson are both highly accomplished scientists who also happen to be best friends. They work together with Gregoire Courtine's group and NeuroRestore at the... More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-97.html

Today we're talking with Dr. Kajana Satkunendrarajah. Kajana is an associate professor and researcher at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She is also an ally of our legislative efforts in Wisconsin to pass an SCI Research Grant bill there. We discuss Dr. Satkunendrarajah's NIH R01 grant submission to study her lab's recent discovery of cervical level neurons connected to respiratory function. This leads us into a conversation about the process of grant submissions and the uncertainty and waiting game that all academic researchers must play. We also talk about Kajana's broad SCI research interests, the tools she employs in her research, her current study examining the relationship between music and neuronal response, and much more! More info here: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-96.html

Today's conversation features my co-host Jason Stoffer, our new development director, Quinn Brett, and their filmmaker and adventure buddy Robbie Prechtl. Last year, Jason and Quinn completed a rim to rim trip of the Grand Canyon on handcycles(!). They were accompanied by Rob and a team of friends who came along for the adventure and assistance. In case you don't know, doing a rim to rim journey through the Grand Canyon means descending down to the basin of the canyon and then coming back up on the other side – a descent of 4,500 vertical feet from the south rim to the Colorado river, and then an ascent of 6,000 vertical feet to the north rim. It's over 20 miles of narrow trails that were never intended for the adaptive trikes they were using. There are three parts to this conversation: first, the physical trip itself - what led to it and how harrowing was it? Second, we explore the notion of identity, pre- and post-injury. As extreme athletes and lovers of the outdoors, how do they adapt their SCI reality to continue to push boundaries? And lastly, how does all this relate to U2FP's mission: this crazy, audacious, adventurous goal to cure paralysis? We believe this goal requires the SCI community's direct involvement. Sometimes that seems like an adventure. Sometimes it seems like a crazy impossible canyon to traverse, and that comes up a little bit towards the end of the conversation as well. More info here:https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-95.html

Every year, U2FP puts on an annual science and advocacy symposium. It's a two day event where we bring together people from the SCI community, researchers, clinicians, industry representatives, and funders in an effort to educate our community about the science of curative therapies. We also hope it provides them with a better understanding of the scientific enterprise. But it's also a conference to educate folks in the scientific community by hearing directly from individuals who live with a spinal cord injury. The overarching questions are: What are we each thinking about this whole enterprise? What are our perceptions and blind spots? And what are we hoping it will deliver to us in terms of restorative therapies. Finally, and most importantly, how can we – the SCI community - engage more effectively in advocating for restored function? Today's podcast is brief. It's a collection of micro-interviews that we conducted during our 2023 Science & Advocacy Symposium here in Minneapolis. During this two day event our podcast producer Julie and my co-host Jason set up a podcast booth and interviewed whoever wanted to come and talk about the symposium, talk about themselves, and talk about their position relative to the big picture. We called it Your Voice Here. Some are scientists, some are people who represent organizations, some are from companies, and most are folks with a SCI. I hope it gives you a little flavor of our symposium and what everyone was thinking about. More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-94.html

Today we are speaking with Dimitry Sayenko. Dimitry is an MD, PhD and an associate professor in Neuromodulation and Nuerosurgery at Houston Methodist Hospital, in Houston, Texas. Our conversation starts off with an exploration of Dimitry's fascinating beginnings, studying muscle atrophy and bone density in the context of aerospace in both Russia and the U.S. We also talk about his current work studying transcutaneous electrical stimulation and end with a lively exchange of when new discoveries should be implemented in the population. It's a great conversation that addresses the balance between a researcher's drive for mechanism and safeguards against the burning desire of the community for functional recovery and risk assessment. More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-92.html

Today's conversation is a highly anticipated one. For years we've been hearing about the groundbreaking work of Jerry Silver to render the injury scar permeable to axon growth. That work led to development of the pharmacologic NVG-291 and the associated company NervGen Pharma. The research has finally advanced to a human SCI clinical trial, led by Monica Perez, PT, PhD, who's today's guest. Dr. Perez is the scientific chair of the Arm and Hands Lab at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and a Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Northwestern University in Chicago. In this conversation we talk about what led Monica into SCI research, her role as Principal Investigator in this clinical trial, the background and study design of the trial and its current recruitment of participants. More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-92.html

Today we're talking with Ceren Yarar-Fisher, PhD, PT. Dr. Yarar-Fisher is Vice Chair of Research of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in the Dept. of Neuroscience at The Ohio State University. She's also the director of clinical research at the Belford Center for Spinal Cord Injury. In this episode, we start off exploring the unique origins of Ceren's interest in science and later spinal cord injury. We also talk about her research interest in SCI functional recovery through rehabilitation and nutrition, her role at the multi-disciplinary Belford Center and this year's inaugural SCI Days at OSU. Ceren's passion for her work and the creativity that fosters her research questions are evident throughout this discussion. More info here: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-91.html

Our guest today is Meghan Moynihan. Megan is the executive director of the Institute for Functional Restoration, or IFR, a not-for-profit organization based at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. The IFR seeks to further functional recovery in spinal cord injury by developing commercial strategies to get that research to market. We discuss Megan's background as a researcher and her unique perspective based on 17 years with the Food and Drug Administration along with her current work as executive director of the IFR. It is an illuminating discussion on the so-called valleys of death that any therapy must survive to make it to the clinic. More info here: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-90.html

Our conversation today is with David McMillan, an assistant professor at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, Department of Neurological Surgery, and Director of Education and Outreach for The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. Jason and Julie recorded this interview with David onsite at this year's Science and Advocacy Symposium in Minneapolis, where we had a booth set up. The conversation is more casual than our usual ones and is completely unscripted. David was walking by and Jason pulled him in to chat about his connection to spinal cord injury, the work that he does at the Miami Project and his thoughts on this year's symposium.

Today's episode is a bit different. We're turning the mic towards our own work here at U2FP to let you in on what's cooking. Jason and Matthew begin by discussing some unique developments with our Team U2FP racers involving extreme heat, adaptive trikes, and a trek along the rim of the Grand Canyon(!). We also discuss U2FP's upcoming symposium, including how we designed the spinal stim panel, our focus on approaches that combine more than one curative avenue (eg stimulation + stem cells, etc) along with a special CureCast live feature that's happening. Finally, we talk about U2FP's growth trajectory and a new position opening up at the organization.

Today we are talking with Yi-Kai Lo and Katie Velez of the SCI research and tech company, Aneuvo. Anuevo has been busy working with investors, the FDA, and multiple research sites to clinically deploy the ExaStim, a novel transcutaneous stimulation device. The goal of their current ASPIRE study is to improve upper limb function. We discuss Dr. Lo's background in tech and how he was inspired to put that training to use in the field of spinal cord injury. We learn about his drive to pursue challenging projects and his decision to start a business, driven by a passion to bring real functional improvements to the injured population. We're also joined by Katie Velez, who speaks about her role at Aneuvo to market their device and grow the company. She brings a lot of depth to this conversation, owing to her previous experience working with large tech companies. There's also some great exchanges around the problems, opportunities and motivations that are reflected by the size of a company. It's an insightful and in-depth discussion.

The topic of today's conversation is the Vagus nerve. In Latin, Vagus means wandering or straying, which this conversation does a fair bit of due to the interesting subject matter. Our guide on this path is Dr. Patrick Ganzer of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. Dr. Ganzer gives us a great overview of the vagus nerve including its possible evolutionary benefits, early explorations and its unique attributes. More importantly, Dr. Ganzer explains how the vagus nerve can be stimulated to open a window of neuro-plasticity and improve functional outcomes in spinal cord injury. We also talk about his research in phase 1 clinical trials and what is on the horizon. More info here: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-86.html

Today's guest is Dr. Kim Anderson, a friend and a very influential researcher who we have a really great conversation with. We begin with the story of her spinal cord injury along with her early studies and research, and that leads into one of the things she's known for: her work on patient preference as a result of directly surveying the spinal cord injury community. Finally, we explore how this trajectory in her work influenced the research community going forward. I think you're going to enjoy this conversation. We sure did. More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-85.html

Today, our guest is Louise Phipps Senft. Louise is the mother to a son with an SCI, and founder of Blink of an Eye, a nonprofit organization that is committed to addressing that initial moment when everything changes after a spinal cord injury. A big theme of this conversation is trauma. And one of the things that arises in our dialogue with Louise is how this emotional trauma kind of goes under or undiagnosed – both with the injured person AND with the family and the extended community. Louise is an extraordinary person who will tell us a bit about the story of her family and how they've responded in the aftermath of her son's SCI. We'll also talk about her son and where he is now. You can find more information about Blink of an Eye at blinkofaneye.org. More info here: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-84.html

What you are about to hear is one of the richest conversations we've ever had on the show. Our guests today are Gabriel Rodreick (Matthew's son) and Julie Censullo (CureCast producer) who are here to discuss an audio-art project they created together called “Life Begins in the Stillness” - which we play at the top of the episode. We then dive into their relationship with spinal cord injury, with each other, with art and with the creative process. This conversation goes deep into the ripple effects of SCI beyond the injured individual; how it slams headlong into our families and friends; and how Gabe's injury propelled Matthew to join the work of cure advocacy and the pros and cons of that decision. You'll also hear one of the best discussions I've heard on the topic of inspiration and what is meant by “inspiration porn” in the SCI community. As we open with Julie and Gabe's 7 minute work, Life Begins in the Stillness, I suggest you find a place where you can be still. Then close your eyes and pay attention to how the sounds and thoughts interact with your body and being. More info here: u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-83.html

CureCast co-host Jason Stoffer was injured 5 and ½ years ago. Earlier this year, his friend Lewis Johnson sustained a spinal cord injury. The similarities are uncanny: they were both in the same career field; they both went to the same inpatient hospital; and they both attended the same inpatient rehab facility. For Jason, the big question on the table is this: What has changed in 5 years? What progress are we making? Are newly injured folks getting the same message I got from my clinicians? We asked today's guests to give us some high level answers to those questions. Dr. Shekar Kurpad is Professor and Chair of Neurosurgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin and Candy Tefertiller is the Executive Director of Research and Evaluation at Craig Hospital in Denver. More info here: u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-82.html

What if we could take all the neural trash that forms in the spinal cord after an injury, the stuff that hinders connectivity, and turn it into treasure? This is the idea behind cellular reprogramming. Today's podcast guest, Dr. Arshak Alexanian, is a biochemist and the Chief Scientific Officer at the Wisconsin biotech firm, Cell Reprogramming & Therapuetics, LLC. We met Dr. Alexanian not too long ago while advocating for our $3M SCI Research Grant bill in the Wisconsin legislature. Dr. Alexanian believes so strongly in the possibility of cellular reprogramming that he took the leap out of academia and into private business to help make it happen.

Today's guest on the podcast is Kym Eisner, the executive director of the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation. This year happens to be the Neilsen Foundation's 20th anniversary. For those who are unfamiliar with the Foundation, its namesake Craig H. Neilsen, was an entrepreneur who sustained a spinal cord injury in 1985 and formed the foundation in 2002. This was an attempt to catalyze research and support for people living with a spinal cord injury. In the last 20 years, The Neilsen Foundation has contributed almost $360,000,000 to both research and nonprofit organizations serving people with spinal cord injuries. Given this milestone, we wanted to talk with Kym Eisner about the foundation's work, hear some of the history of the foundation and learn what's going on right now. More info here: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-80.html

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to participate in an SCI clinical research trial? How do you find out about these trials? How do you find out about these trials? Does anyone make a recovery? What are some reasons that you might take the leap - or not? On today's podcast, you'll get some answers to these questions and many more. Our guests, Mandy Mackenzie and Laura Grabowski, have each participated in a number of clinical trials and we've put them in the hot seat to give you an idea what it's like. More info here: u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-79.html

Today's episode is a rebroadcast of our conversation with Grégoire Courtine from two years ago. Dr. Courtine has been pivotal in the successful application of epidural stimulation in humans with SCI, in both his research and device commercialization. In this episode, we talk about Dr. Courtine's motivation to study spinal cord injury and epidural stimulation in particular. We discuss the translation of his early rodent model research into humans and the mechanism of the therapy, such as targeted modulated stimulation coupled with intention and the reorganization of spared neural tissue. We also discuss the device's application and it's outcomes in different severities of injury, as well as his hopes for future application. More info here: u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-78.html

Today our guest is Dan Hellenbrand, a renaissance man of sorts. Dan sustained a cervical injury (C5-6) as a carpenter back in 2003 and ended up going back to school to become a SCI researcher, as well as an advocate for curative therapies. We have an interesting conversation about early physical therapy, the role of belief and competition with yourself and how that aids recovery. We also discuss Dan's research and interest in mitigating early damage at the injury site, acute versus chronic injury strategies, the Wisconsin bill to fund SCI research, and what sustains advocacy passion in the long run. More info here: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-77.html

Today's conversation is a rebroadcast of our interview with Samuel Stupp back in 2022. We thought it was a good time to revisit this conversation, given Dr. Stupp's most recent publication, which you can learn more about below in the summary review done by U2FP's science writer, Sam Maddox. More info and research links here: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-76.html As always, please share your thoughts with us via email at curecast@u2fp.org. Thanks for listening!

Today's episode revisits important elements and loose ends of spinal cord stimulation (SCS) that didn't fit neatly into the arc of our first three conversations on this topic. We're calling this installment the ‘Junk Drawer' - not because we consider these loose ends to be junk, but because they represent the multi-directional potential of stimulation's promise that are on the horizon. This includes strategies we haven't fully broached such as combination therapies and clinical trials that are in the works - including one that U2FP helped design and coordinated funding for - as well as well as other strategies such as deep brain stimulation and intra-spinal stimulation. As always, please share your thoughts with us via email at curecast@u2fp.org. Thanks for listening! Bio Sam Maddox (of Los Angeles, California) is former Knowledge Manager and spinal cord injury research writer for the Reeve Foundation. He is the author of several books related to chronic health and paralysis, including four editions of the Paralysis Resource Guide, published by the Reeve Foundation. In 1992 Maddox wrote the first comprehensive history of spinal cord injury research, The Quest for Cure: Restoring Function After Spinal Cord Injury. He wrote and published the widely acclaimed resource book Spinal Network, and is founder of New Mobility magazine. Maddox was a panel member on The Consortium for Spinal Cord Medicine, which develops and disseminates evidence-based clinical practice guidelines to professionals and consumers. He is currently writing and producing books as a resource for the newly injured: SCI: First 90 Days. He has been a reporter for many magazines, including Time, Money and People. Maddox is a graduate of the University of Colorado, where he taught in the School of Journalism.

Today we talk with Bill Murphy, a bioengineer out of the University of Wisconsin Madison. We recently met Dr. Murphy when he came to the Wisconsin Capitol in support of our $3M SCI Research Grant bill back in January. Bill's team has been working on developing biomaterials to improve the body's ability to receive and utilize Chondroitinase ABC (ChABC). ChABC is an enzyme that holds lots of promise for jump starting axon regeneration, a key element for repairing the damaged spinal cord. But ChABC is notoriously unstable, having a short shelf life once it's formulated as well as degrading quickly after it enters the body. Jason and Matthew talk with Dr. Murphy about the specifics of his research strategy to improve the use of ChABC, and how it could be used in combination with other therapeutic interventions. We also discuss his support of our bill and his reflection on what it was like to walk through and meet legislators with us as we advocated for our bill to fund SCI research in Wisconsin. As always, please share your thoughts with us via email at curecast@u2fp.org. Thanks for listening! Guest Bio Bill Murphy is the Harvey D. Spangler Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Orthopedics & Rehabilitation at the University of Wisconsin. His research group has developed new classes of biomimetic materials inspired by nature. They have used their materials to create new medical devices, human cells, and human tissues. He has over 200 publications, filed over 60 patents and co-founded 4 start-up companies based on those inventions. He also serves as Founding Director of the Forward BIO Institute, which catalyzes innovation in research, entrepreneurship and training, and pushes groundbreaking technologies out of academia and into the private sector. More info and resources: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-74.html