Media

OTTAWA, July 8, 2010  —  Professor Xudong Cao, a research scientist in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Ottawa, has received close to $500,000 in funding for a project to develop a new strategy for spinal cord regeneration. The grant has been awarded under the Collaborative Health Research Projects (CHRP) program of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).

In his research, Professor Cao proposes the use of a novel biodegradable nerve guide that promotes cell regeneration by recruiting the patient’s own progenitor cells to repair the spinal cord. The knowledge gained from this project creates an entirely new stem cell therapy approach that could be extended to other organ systems, leading to advancements in the understanding of the therapeutic potential of stem cells. There are approximately 400,000 people living with spinal cord injury in North America, and the economic cost exceeds $10 billion annually.

Through the collaboration of Dr. Eve Tsai, assistant professor in the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Medicine, associate scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and a well known neurosurgeon, and Dr. May Griffith, assistant professor in the Faculty of Medicine and researcher at the University of Ottawa Eye Institute, Professor Cao’s work benefits from a unique, multidisciplinary expertise fostering advances in spinal cord research.

The CHRP program supports natural science, engineering and health science research projects, resulting in improved health for Canadians. The program is funded jointly by NSERC and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

The University of Ottawa strives to improve the health of all Canadians through the cutting-edge research of its professors and students. We are committed to research excellence and encourage an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge creation, which attracts the best academic talent from across Canada and around the world.