Israel Develops Implants to Help Paralyzed People Walk Again

The Fellowship | February 11, 2022

Person in a wheelchair being pushed by another person during a marathon. — (Photo: Oren Nahshon)

Researchers at Tel Aviv University engineered the world’s first 3D human spinal cord tissues. This means that those with spinal cord injuries have hope of a new treatment to help them walk again, reports the Jerusalem Post:

People with long-term paralysis might regain the ability to walk after Israeli scientists successfully engineered the first 3D human spinal cord tissue. The results were published in a groundbreaking peer-reviewed study published in the journal Advanced Science on Monday morning.
The study was conducted by researchers from the Sagol Center for Regenerative Biotechnology at Tel Aviv University, headed by Prof. Tal Dvir. He was joined by researchers from the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, and the Department of Biomedical Engineering at TAU. The team at Dvir’s lab includes PhD student Lior Wertheim, Dr. Reuven Edri and Dr. Yona Goldshmit.