ProfFergal O'Brien

O'Brien's Tissue Engineering Research Group (TERG) is accelerating recovery from spinal cord injuries. Spinal cord injury is a devastating condition that results in lifelong paralysis. In Ireland, one person suffers a spinal cord injury every week, and there are over 2,300 individuals and families living with the injury across the country. 
 
Working together, with the Research Ireland Advanced Materials and Bioengineering Research (AMBER) Centre, researchers have created a new implant that transmits electrical signals, potentially promoting the repair of nerve cells following a spinal cord injury.
 
TERG and the Research Ireland Advanced Materials and Bioengineering Research (AMBER) Centre researchers teamed up with the Irish Rugby Football Union Charitable Trust (IRFU-CT) on the project and brought together a spinal cord injury advisory group to oversee and guide the research. That group included clinicians, individuals living with spinal cord injury, the research scientists and engineers and public and patient involvement (PPI) researchers.
 
This advisory group offered valuable insights into the realities of spinal cord injuries and possible treatment strategies. Through regular meetings and laboratory visits, they played a crucial role in guiding the project from its inception to the current publication, resulting in several separate papers on the importance of PPI in preclinical research.
 
The implant project was supported by the Irish Rugby Football Union Charitable Trust, the AMBER Centre, the Irish Research Council and the research findings were presented at the TERMIS World Congress in Seattle, Washington, USA and published in the journal Materials Today in 2024. The outputs from this joint project has led to follow up funding in conjunction with the AMBER Centre and the IRFU-CT to further develop this research.