Local scientists have assisted an international research team in developing a breakthrough treatment for the repair of damaged nerves.
The research team at CÚRAM at University of Galway were working alongside the Mayo Clinic in the US, and Queen Mary University in London.
This promising research has been published in the prestigious journal, Cell Biomaterials.
The team wanted to break ground on new treatments for damaged nerves and associated symptoms.
They include irreversible loss of motor and sensory function, chronic pain and long-term disability.
Current treatments were reviewed - like autografts from patients own nerve tissue; artificial nerve guides to promote new growth; and gene therapy.
The team wanted to better understand how nerve tissues regenerates, and the circumstances in which regeneration is hindered.
The culmination of their work is the development of a special collagen-based conduit that releases targeted proteins to injury sites and encourages growth and repair.
