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 The 24th Annual Kentucky Spinal Cord & Head Injury Research Trust Symposium, was held on Thursday, May 10, 2018, in the Lee T. Todd, Jr. Building at the University of Kentucky.

Prominent researchers in the fields of spinal cord and traumatic brain injury from across the nation joined the UK Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC) faculty to share information focused on two themes: long-term consequences of neurotrauma and research along the translational spectrum.

Register for this free event at http://medicine.mc.uky.edu/conference

According to a paper recently published in Cell Reports, labs from Case Western Reserve and the University of Kentucky's Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC) were able to demonstrate the existence of a parallel neural network that could potentially restore diaphragm function after spinal cord injury.

This ghost network operates entirely separate from the brain, which has long been considered the only organ capable of directing respiratory function, and appears able to instruct the diaphragm to contract when properly activated. 

A team of University of Kentucky researchers recently discovered that macrophages, a type of immune cell that clears debris at injury sites during normal wound healing and helps produce scar tissue, are required for complex tissue regeneration in mammals.

John Gensel, an assistant professor in the physiology department and the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center, and two members of his lab team—Bei Zhang and Taylor Otto—are featured in this podcast.

Taylor Otto, an undergraduate lab assistant in Gensel’s lab, described UK as being the full package. “We have it all here. It’s a good program to be able to come into, not really knowing what you want to exactly do in the science field, but being able to figure it out at the same time,” said Otto.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 3, 2016) —The second annual Thomas V. Getchell, Ph.D., Memorial Award for excellence in grant writing was presented to Jenna Gollihue, a graduate student in the University of Kentucky Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center, on Nov. 2. The award honors the memory of Getchell, a former professor of physiology in the UK Department of Physiology who encouraged researchers to improve grant writing skills to acquire research funding. The award supports a travel stipend for a student participating in the annual Grant Writing Workshop.

In ivory towers all over the world, experts ponder the factors that foster career success and overall well-being in their college graduates. Gallup tried to answer the same question. In a 2014 poll of more than 30,000 graduates, the polling juggernaut tried to find connections between the college experience and long-term career and personal "wellness." In other words: did graduates feel they had achieved personal and career success?

In the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCOBIRC) at the University of Kentucky, Adam Bachstetter’s lab studies how glial cells in the brain interact with neurons to support brain health. Bachstetter and Danielle Lyons, a postdoctoral scholar in his lab, recently shared their stories with LabTV.

Podcast: Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research with Sasha Rabchevsky

Edward Hall and Bret Smith, SCoBIRC Core and Associate Faculty respectively, recognized for research excellence

From UKnow

LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 3, 2016) — The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees today approved 17 University Research Professorships for the 2016-17 year.

Erica Littlejohn (PhD candidate, Saatman Lab, SCoBIRC), along with Ese Ighordaro (MD/PhD candidate, Nelson lab, Sanders-Brown Center on Aging) received the Shane Carlin & Annie Sit Inclusion Award (see below) at a recent conference for Interracial Education at Berea College. Erica is President of the University of Kentucky Black Graduate and Professional Student Association (BGPSA), and Ese is Vice-Preisdent. Ese also received the John T. Smith Award.

Experimental Drug May Limit Harmful Effects of Traumatic Brain Injury

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 19, 2016) — A new report by University of Kentucky researchers Linda Van Eldik, Ph.D., and Adam Bachstetter, Ph.D., describes an experimental drug candidate that may aid patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI). 

At the age of 19, Sasha Rabchevsky was a strong safety on the Hampden-Sydney College football team when a motorcycle accident left him paralyzed from the chest down.

Rabchevsky has transformed that dreadful turn of events into a meaningful career searching for ways to repair spinal cord damage and improve the lives of those living with spinal cord injury (SCI).

"After my accident, I knew I wanted to pursue research to understand what my condition was and if not cure it, figure out and understand why there was no cure," he said.

Thanks to support from the Kentucky Spinal Cord and Head Injury Research Trust, we are pleased to offer $150 Awards to students, postdocs, and other researchers at the University of Kentucky who will be submitting an abstract to the National Neurotrauma Society meeting. This award is to cover a portion of the registration cost. Faculty are not eligible.

UK Professor Invited to State Capitol for ADA Commemoration

Complete Article available on UKnow

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 30, 2015) — Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear issued a proclamation Monday, July 27, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a landmark law protecting the individual liberties of those living with disabilities.

 

 Gensel Laboratory Awarded Grant to Study Spinal Cord Injury Repair

Full article available on UKnow.

Conquer Paralysis Now (CPN) has awarded two of its 12 grants to researchers at the UK Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center (SCoBIRC) through its Conquer Paralysis Now Challenge. No other institution received more than one grant. Sasha Rabchevsky, Ph.D., received the Out of the Box Award, which provides an initial $50,000 funding for high-risk, high-potential research ideas.