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Ed. Note: The following is a press
release from the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation. September 16,
2004 -- The Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation (CRPF) announced today
that its Research Consortium on Spinal Cord Injury publish the results of
a pioneering study that used microarray technology to look at changes in
gene expression after contusion injury in the adult rat spinal cord.
The study, involving the seven
Consortium laboratories, characterized the changes in gene expression at
the site of, as well as above and below, a moderate contusion injury in
rats. The project involved 108 GeneChips and looked at four time points,
spanning from three hours after injury to a more "chronic" state 35 days
later. The data analysis produced a spatial and temporal profile of spinal
cord injury and also identified several promising avenues for new clinical
treatments. The study, the largest of its kind published to-date in the
spinal cord field, is now available in the October issue of Experimental
Neurology.
The CRPF Research Consortium on
Spinal Cord Injury is an international network of neuroscientists focused
on repair and recovery of function in the chronically injured spinal cord.
Through collaborative research, Consortium investigators are studying how
to optimize the intrinsic capacity of the adult nervous system to repair
and remodel itself as well as how to elicit robust regenerative responses
after injury.
The Consortium is working with
TopCoder,
a Glastonbury, Conn., company that organizes and hosts online and onsite
programming competitions for a global community of members, to create a
high-quality, web- based application to disseminate the microarray data
from this study to the scientific community. This interactive platform,
which will allow users to see how thousands of genes behave after injury,
will be available at shortly and will make data easily accessible to
all scientists including those unfamiliar with GeneChip technology. CRPF
believes that the database information will be highly relevant to
researchers investigating many different aspects of spinal cord injury.
Since the web application is still under development, temporary access to
the study's raw data and analyzed files is available now at:
http://releases.usnewswire.com/redir.asp?ReleaseID=36406&Link=http://genechip.salk.edu/.
"This is groundbreaking
research," said Kathy Lewis, president and CEO of CRPF. "Consortium
scientists are already moving forward to explore the therapeutic
possibilities identified by the study."
Microarray technology has
emerged as an exciting and aggressive tool that enables researchers to
screen thousands of genes simultaneously to see which ones are active, or
expressed, and which ones are silent. Genes are arrayed on a microchip the
size of a fingernail, and experiments that once took years to complete can
now be done in a relatively short time. The technology eliminates a lot of
the guesswork that had been involved in gene profiling. Scientists believe
that by observing the patterns of gene expression to see how they change
after a spinal cord injury, they might identify therapeutic targets.
"Microarray technology gives us
an unbiased 'snapshot' of gene expression in many animals, including the
mouse and rat, and humans. The approach enables biologists not only to
explore gene changes after injury but also to look at genes that are
changed by any experimental therapy. It is a powerful research tool," said
Susan P. Howley, CRPF Executive Vice President and Director of Research.
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The Christopher Reeve Paralysis
Foundation (CRPF) is committed to funding research that develops
treatments and cures for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury and other
central nervous system disorders. The Foundation also vigorously works to
improve the quality of life for people living with disabilities through
its grants program, Paralysis Resource Center, and advocacy efforts.
Contact: Maggie Goldberg of
Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, 973-379-2690 or
mgoldberg@crpf.org
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