With no complete cure for brain or spine injury in sight, it is important to keep research efforts going, and focused on the possibilities of stem cell therapy in brain injury treatment.  Last week, researchers at the University of California Irvine received $9.35 million in grants to develop treatments using stem cell therapy. 

The grants came from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and will be used to study the effectiveness of stem cell therapy in treating eye diseases, Huntington's disease and traumatic brain injury.  So far, UC Irvine has received more than $71 million in funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Researchers at UCI will use their share of the funds, amounting to $1.7 million, to study stem cell therapy to treat traumatic brain injury.  They're hoping that the stem cells lines that they develop may also one day prove effective in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, stroke and spinal cord injury. 

A big portion of the research will be on the treatment of retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic eye disease that can result in blindness.  This research will be funded by $3.85 million dollars from the grant.  According to the researchers, they have had success in animal testing, and hope to move closer to human clinical trials.  The rest of the funds will be used to develop stem cell therapies to treat Huntington's disease.

Over the past year, there have been dramatic breakthroughs in embryonic stem cell therapies, especially in the treatment of eye injuries.  A California-based company has already begun the world's first human clinical trials in the treatment of spinal cord injuries using embryonic stem cells.  There is great activity in this area, and California brain injury lawyers would support any efforts to keep the momentum going.