Aussie scientists on the cusp of helping paraplegics walk again

PARAPLEGICS may soon be able to walk again thanks to breakthroughs by Aussie scientists in nasal cell research and the development of “exoskeleton” devices.

EXCLUSIVE

THE impossible dream of helping paraplegics walk is within the grasp of Australian scientists who have managed to get paralysed mice moving again.

It’s happening thanks to the work of two separate groups of scientists at Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus, a location more renowned for its meter maids and beaches than its scientific breakthroughs.

In two years, Associate Professor James St John hopes to begin human trials of a new treatment that will see nasal cells transplanted into a “bridge” in the spinal cord of a paralysed person to regenerate damaged nerves.

The concept has been proven in other research globally using mice or rats and electrical impulses to stimulate nerves.

This Griffith study is different in that it uses nasal cells to simulate nerve growth.

“We’ve tested it in mice and we can regenerate motor and sensory function to a degree but we are nowhere near full function yet,” he said.

In 2014 a Polish man, Darek Fidyka, 40, who was paralysed after being stabbed in the back, was able to recover some sensory movement after such a procedure.

Dr James St John (left) hopes to begin human trials with nasal cells in two years. Picture: Darren England.

Associate Professor St John is building on work by 2017 Australian of the Year retired Professor Alan Mackay-Sim who showed olfactory ensheathing cells from the nose could be safely taken from people with paraplegia, grown in the lab then transplanted back into the human body.

These cells are used because of their unique capacity to regenerate nerve cells in the brain.

The team is now working on ways to purify the nasal cells, improve the nerve “bridge” they need to grow on and figure out how to transplant them into the injury site without causing further damage.

However, simply transplanting stem cells is not enough to get someone walking again.

Patients will need long term rehabilitation, the brain will have to be retrained to remember how to walk and take in sensory queues from the paralysed site.

That’s where the work of a second group of biomechanical researchers at Griffith University comes in.

They are working on exoskeletons they want to wire to the human brain and connect to muscles, bypassing the damaged spinal cord.

These machines could be used to support paralysed people while they learn to move again after the nasal cell transplant.

Darek Fidyka, who was paralysed after being stabbed in the back, was able to recover some sensory movement. Picture: EPA/BBC

Griffith University Professor David Lloyd and team use computer modelling to create individualised 3D devices and implants used by orthopedic surgeons, and wants to use these technologies to help paraplegics.

However, he needs approximately $330,000 in funding to make this happen, money he says is hard to get from agencies like the National Health and Medical Research Council who don’t tend to fund these kinds of very new and innovative projects.

The idea is to use an exoskeleton, like a bike or a robotic walking machine, which assists a person to walk above a treadmill or over the ground.

This device would be connected to an EEG that records electrical activity in the brain and signals sent to the muscles.

The system would also be linked to electrodes attached to the patient’s muscles and would signal those muscles to move.

In theory, this would allow the mind to control the exoskeleton, and if used in conjunction with cell therapy, could help stimulate the spinal cells to regenerate.

Exoskeletons such as this support paralysed people while they learn to move again after the nasal cell transplant. Picture: News Corp Australia

Key to the system doing its job properly is being able to calculate the workload on an individual’s muscles and skeleton, so as their muscles get stronger, the workout can made more challenging to get optimal results from the training.

“If you rely too much on the machine to do the work you don’t get the benefit, you need to push the person,” says Professor Lloyd.

Their computer model is the only one in the world that can do this type of calculation.

Professor Lloyd now has access to a reclining exoskeleton bike on loan from the University of Sydney, but needs funding so he can put a research fellow on the project full time to ensure maximum gains.

“There are only a couple of people in the world who can do it, and I have one research fellow here who wrote the software to do it. I don’t want to see our biomedical scientists and engineers stolen by overseas companies and Universities, I want Australian manufacturing and industry to flourish,” says Professor Lloyd.

The work on paraplegia is happening at the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct a 200 hectare health and innovation hub that includes Griffith University, the Gold Coast Hospital, the Institute of Glycomics, the National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases. The 2018 Commonwealth Games site is in the same area and its buildings will be made available for further health and knowledge projects after the Games.

**Sue Dunlevy’s trip to the Gold Coast was funded by the City of Gold Coast Council.

Dinesh Palipana made headlines for overcoming his disability to receive an internship as a doctor at Gold Coast Hospital. Picture: News Corp Australia

CASE STUDY: Dinesh Palipana

The mission to get paraplegics walking again needs a guinea pig who will trial the treatment and there could be no better qualified subject than medical doctor Dinesh Palipana.

Dr Palipana, 33, was halfway through medical school in 2010 when his car aquaplaned, rolled and crashed on the Gateway Motorway leaving him paralysed.

He spent seven months in hospital but worked hard at rehabilitation for five years, got back to medical school and is now doing his intern year at the Gold Coast Hospital.

He is the first paraplegic ever to get through medical school and he had to fight the establishment to get a training position in a public hospital.

“People are desperate to see a way out,” says Dinesh.

Paraplegics not only can’t walk, they suffer from frequent hospitalisations because their injury causes breathing problems, cardiovascular problems, bowel issues, bladder infections and many suicide, he says.

Dr Palipana is keeping up with the research at Griffith University and is involved in the Perry Cross Foundation that is funding the stem cell work.

He is also working with Professor Lloyd’s team and helped get hold of the exoskeleton bike they are working on.

“If I can I would definitely love to be a volunteer in the research,” he says.

“I’m really excited, I have a vested interest in finding a cure and it’s happening in my own back yard,” he says.

Dr Palipana spent some time at Harvard Medical School and Professor Yang Teng who is working on spinal cord research, the US doctor is one of his mentors.

He is excited by work at Duke University where they are using virtual reality headsets to make people think they are walking, after long term therapy patients who were suspended from a sling could lift their leg a small amount.

“Absolutely I think this is going to happen,” he says.

“I’m confident we will see some big things in paralysis in my lifetime,” he says.

Originally published as Aussie scientists on the cusp of helping paraplegics walk again