It was the hope that some of the best minds in neuroscience, gathered under one roof, can solve the daunting challenge of helping the paralyzed walk again.The hope becomes a dream realized when a $37 million research center, the largest of its kind in the world, is dedicated on the University of Miami School of Medicine campus.
"This will be the best place in the world to do this work," said W. Dalton Dietrich, the scientific director of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, which was started in 1985 by the Buoniconti family and Dr. Barth Green, UM's chairman of neurological surgery.
Since the project began, scientists have been able to do what skeptics said would never happen -- get nerve tissue to regenerate, both in the laboratory and in animals with spinal injuries.
"We've changed the way the whole world thinks about paralysis. We've changed the textbooks. They used to say the central nervous system couldn't be regenerated. We proved that false," Marc Buoniconti said Tuesday. "We keep dispelling myths."
On the new frontiers of this research, doctors and scientists must learn how best to protect the spine after a severe injury, when the body cranks out chemicals that block the spine from repairing itself. They must find the best technique for regrowing spinal nerve tissue to repair the break or injury.
And perhaps most difficult of all, they must be able to train the new tissue to do the job previously done by the injured nerves.
The new seven-story Lois Pope LIFE Center, named for the Palm Beach philanthropist, will house 20 research labs and state-of-the-art equipment for 125 neuroscientists and support staff. Those scientists have been scattered in five locations on the medical school campus until now.
Pope donated $10 million to start the building fund. The pledge was matched by the state of Florida. "It's a dream come true," said Pope, "but my ultimate dream is no more wheelchairs."
She said the scientists' work also will benefit people with other neurological diseases such as stroke, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and Lou Gehrig's disease.
On Thursday, NBC anchor Tom Brokaw will be master of ceremonies. He will be joined by actor Christopher Reeve, paralyzed in a horseback-riding accident; Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf, singer Gloria Estefan and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Former Miami Dolphins All Pro linebacker Nick Buoniconti, Marc's father, began the quest for a cure for paralysis as soon as doctors told him there was no hope that his son would ever leave his wheelchair. "That's unacceptable," he told them.
The project, named for the Manhattan Project effort to harness nuclear energy, immediately began recruiting researchers to work on a puzzle most scientists said would never be solved. Among those was Dr. Mary Bunge, who came with her husband, Richard, from Washington University in St. Louis to work on the project. Richard, who died of esophageal cancer in 1996, worked with Schwann cells, cells in the peripheral nervous system that do have the ability to regenerate after being damaged or cut.
Mary Bunge continues to work on the regeneration of nerve tissue. She predicts that in the future doctors will be able to take a piece of nerve tissue from the ankle of a person with spinal cord injury, remove the Schwann cells, multiply them in the lab, and then reimplant them in the injured area of the person's spinal cord.
"There would be no worry about the transplant being rejected, because it's the person's own tissue," she said. But there are other steps that also will be necessary -- guiding the new tissue to perform the proper function in the nervous system. Dietrich said researchers also are working on ways to limit the damage to the spine immediately after the injury, including lowering the body's temperature by a few degrees, which seems to have a protective effect.
One drug, methylprednisolone, can significantly reduce paralysis if given in sufficient dosage within hours of an injury, and Dietrich said researchers are looking for others that may work even better. One of them, IL-10, an anti-inflammatory substance, may be in trials as early as next year.
The group also is working on improving the quality of life of people with spinal cord injury, including dealing with the pain many experience. Another area in which the team is working is infertility issues in paralyzed men. Several babies have been born since the project began because of research into improving the ability of paralyzed men to become fathers, Dietrich said.
Rehabilitation, even before the spinal cords can be repaired, is important, as well, Dietrich said. The project works with patients to build muscle and upper body strength, and to improve cardiovascular health. "If we come up with regenerated spines, people are not going to get up and walk out. There will be much rehabilitation to be done," Dietrich said.
Some people with spinal cord injuries are able to stand up from their wheelchairs and walk with the aid of a walker and electrical stimulation applied to the appropriate muscles in their hips and legs. The leg movements are controlled by a small computer worn at the waist.
The Miami Project was among a number of centers around the country that participated in clinical trials of the device, which led to FDA approval.
William Peetz, 37, a native of Brazil who was injured in a race car accident, has used the system to get around. He said it has helped build muscle in his legs and improved his cardiovascular system.
"I need to keep in shape so that I will be ready (when there is a cure,)" said Peetz, who continues to drive race cars using hand controls. He owns Mega Racine, a racetrack in Opa-locka where people can drive smaller versions of Indy cars. "The research they're doing, they are going to find a cure," he said. "That is my hope."
Patrick Jacobs, assistant professor and researcher with the project, said the next generation of equipment to electrically stimulate limbs will involve implanting the devices in the body.
The Sydney, Australia, company that developed the cochlear implants to help deaf children hear has been given approval to test implanted electrical stimulation in a paralyzed person in Maine, and will also evaluate the system in Australians with spinal cord injuries.
"After that, we will be evaluating it," Jacobs said. The outcomes in those patients will determine whether it will be adopted for use by the Miami Project, he said.
