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The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis and the Department of Neurological Surgery at the University of Miami (UM) Miller School of Medicine have been selected to become the second U.S.-based site for Neuralink’s PRIME Study, an investigational medical device clinical trial for Neuralink’s ground-breaking brain-computer interface.
“We are very excited about working with the Neuralink team. This announcement is a testament to our multidisciplinary approach for advancing the latest research in neural interfaces and neurorehabilitation,” said W. Dalton Dietrich, Ph.D., scientific director of The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, co-director of the University of Miami Neural Engineering Institute and professor of neurological surgery at the Miller School. Read full story here.
Philanthropist Lois Pope Gives $10 Million to the University of Miami to establish a fund for neuroscience research in memory of her daughter and will focus on research into Alzheimer’s and other neurological diseases and disorders
The gift will name the Lois Pope Laboratory Wing in Memory of Lorraine Pope in the Lois Pope LIFE Center.
Committed to finding a cure for paralysis resulting from spinal cord injury and to seeing millions worldwide walk again, the Buoniconti family established The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis in 1992. The Buoniconti Fund is a non-profit organization whose mission is to raise funds and awareness to help The Miami Project achieve its primary focus; to repair and restore function to the injured and diseased nervous system, thereby improving the quality of life to patients throughout the world.
The Miami Project presents Meet the Researcher, a periodic video series where each video introduces a new researcher. We will hear from the brilliant up and coming scientists and researchers that are part of The Miami Project’s dynamic international team.
Watch our Faculty Highlight video.
Professor, Department of Neurological Surgery
The John M. and Jocelyn H.K. Watkins Distinguished Chair in Cell Therapies
The Neuroscience Program, The Interdisciplinary Stem Cell Institute
Repairing the Injured Nervous System with Cell-Based Approaches and Modulators of Protein Modification Pathways
Scientific Director
Neuroprotection and Improved Recovery of Function following Brain and Spinal Cord Injury
PARALYSIS DOES NOT DISCRIMINATE.
Watch our stories of hope and inspiration from a few of our researchers and participants as they live and fight paralysis.
Dr. Deena Cilien, DPT, PT, is a graduate of the University of Miami's top-ranked clinical physical therapy program and currently works as one of our resident neuro physical therapists, specializing in spinal cord injury.
I chose to participate because I think it's pretty neat being part of finding a cure for something that is so big and affects so many lives.
I first fell in love with The Miami Project in 1986, while volunteering as one of the first research participants. I continue to return to participate in studies.
I suffered a spinal cord injury in 1983. The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis really made a difference in my life.
Jerrod, was paralyzed in a car accident on his way to work a few years ago. He was left a T-12 paraplegic as a result of the incident.
Faces of Paralysis subject, Jazzmin, was diagnosed as a teenager with Neuromyelitis optica which occurs when immune system cells and antibodies attack the optic nerves and the spinal cord.
Richard was paralyzed as a result of a motorcycle accident on the way home that left him with a C-2 incomplete injury.
As part of June's recovery process at The Miami Project, she has been participating in research training programs to improve outcomes for individuals with spinal cord injury.
For Tommy, a 28-year-old man living with tetraplegia from a motor vehicle accident, the ability to open a medicine bottle or grip his wheelchair’s hand rims represents more than medical progress—it’s a restoration of independence. “Literally everything changed,” he says, describing life after participating in a nerve transfer surgery study led by S. Shelby Burks, M.D.
While peripheral nerve transfers have been an existing option for people living with spinal cord injury, the federally funded multi-site study, led locally by site-PI Dr. Burks, adds key innovation in the postoperative neurorehabilitation to maximize functional gains that might only be realized by the combination of surgery and rehabilitation.
Foundational research in therapeutic hypothermia has blazed the trail for the Miller School of Medicine and The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis to stay at the forefront of therapeutic hypothermia research. In the early 80’s, W. Dalton Dietrich, Ph.D., now the Scientific Director of The Miami Project and Professor of Neurological Surgery at the Miller School, was recruited to the Department of Neurology, University of Miami to collaborate with colleagues in the internationally recognized Cerebrovascular Disease Research Center. Today, hundreds of manuscripts are published each year on the benefits and limitations of therapeutic hypothermia and targeted temperature management in clinical settings.
Damien Pearse, Ph.D., is a professor of neurological surgery at The Miami Project. Dr. Pearse is an expert in the biology of Schwann cells, the peripheral nervous system cells that play a key role in axon growth and myelination. His lab investigates how to use Schwann cell transplants to repair the injured spinal cord. Along with fellow Miami Project researchers, Dr. Pearse has been involved in clinical trials that used Schwann cells from injured people’s own bodies to regenerate and reconnect damaged axons. The main goal of his research would be to find a treatment that progresses into a medicine that can be used in people with spinal cord injury. Reaching such a milestone would be a tremendously humbling experience after the relentless pursuit of this goal.