Tag: University of Washington

Note: This video was created in January 2020

Almost 18,000 Americans experience traumatic spinal cord injuries every year. Many of these people are unable to use their hands and arms and can’t do everyday tasks such as eating, grooming or drinking water without help.

Spinal cord injuries caused by accidents, violence and disease paralyze from the neck down more than 5,000 people every year. In the first few months after injury, some people regain some movement and sensation in their limbs. Those who do not show improvement in the first few months are unlikely to ever recover.

The Northwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury System (NWRSCIS) is a regional center of spinal cord injury care, research and education in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington. Programs and services are provided at both the University of Washington Medical Center and Harborview Medical Center.

The mission of the NWRSCIS is to improve the lives of people with SCI through excellent patient care, research and education. We provide specialized care to persons with SCI, conduct clinically relevant research and disseminate the most useful, evidence-based information to people with SCI, their families and professionals.

We often hear that probiotics are good bacteria—but why? What makes certain bacteria “good” or “bad”? And does taking a daily dose of probiotics really help us?

In this presentation, Dr.Alicia Fuhrman in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, explains the complex and rapidly expanding field of stem cell medicine.

https://youtu.be/nGU3dAMlXCg

Learn how three people with tetraplegia (quadriplegia) have improved their hand function and increased their independence through a combination of techniques, exercises and tools.

Cellular Renovation

Why build something from the ground up when one can just renovate an already existing structure? Essentially, that’s what researchers from the University of Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis had in mind when they developed a method for transforming adult human skin cells into motor neurons in a lab. They published their work in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

When a health concern comes up, how do you know what kind of health care provider to see?

Newly developed “glassy carbon” electrodes transmit more robust signals to restore motion in people with damaged spinal cords.

When people suffer spinal cord injuries and lose mobility in their limbs, it’s a neural signal processing problem. The brain can still send clear electrical impulses and the limbs can still receive them, but the signal gets lost in the damaged spinal cord.

Imagine a future when people who have been paralyzed can move their arms and legs again.

Researchers at the University of Washington aren’t just imagining that day. With a new $16 million grant, they’re developing technology that could reanimate paralyzed limbs in the not too distant future.

The Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering, a UW-led effort that includes researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, San Diego State University and other partners, is developing implantable devices that can send signals between regions of the brain or nervous system that have been disconnected due to injury.