Abstract

Spinal cord injury is a major medical challenge. Despite many years of effort, effective therapies are still lacking due to the complexity of this disease. In addition to the damage of axons, spinal cord injury leads to profound changes of the cellular and molecular environment, involving neurons, glia, immunity and other systems. Secondary injury further exacerbates injury. These barriers collectively present a great challenge in restoring the original circuitry. An emerging consensus is that better understanding of mechanism, together with combinatorial approaches to stimulate neural repair, will be necessary to induce functional recovery. This new GRC will feature the most exciting work on molecular, cellular and systems-level changes that affect the injured spinal cord and influence neural repair. Cutting edge discoveries in the injured and regenerating transcriptome, the epigenome, neurons, glia and the immune system will be explored in a highly interactive and in-depth format of discussion and debate. The goal is to collectively accelerate discovery and translation of treatments that will lead to functional recovery. We welcome participation from basic scientists, clinicians and industry.