'Google Maps' of the spinal cord

Challenge 

Every spinal cord injury differs in severity and location along the spinal cord. Therefore, a single treatment is unlikely to work for everyone. Developing effective personalised therapies tailored to each patient's injury will bring us closer to smarter, more precise spinal cord injury care for the 20,800+ Australians living with Spinal Cord Injury (SCI).

Project Overview

This project aims to fill a major knowledge gap in our understanding of the spinal cord. It builds on the discovery that injuries at different levels of the spinal cord trigger different cellular responses.

Project aims:

• Construct the world's first molecular map of SCI across time and lesion level
• Define how this differs between mice and humans, a crucial gap in the global knowledge base
• Develop more targeted treatments for patients with varying levels of injury that can be rapidly tested and translated
• Guide the discovery and testing of novel SCI treatments via drug repurposing.

Measuring Impact

This project only recently commenced in May 2025, but it has already begun advancing knowledge, with lead researcher, Dr. Laura Grice, collaborating with Prof. Marc Ruitenberg’s team and internationally with Prof. Romana Höftberger at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. Dr. Grice has published ten research articles and book chapters to date (six in the last three years), collectively gaining 490 citations (including pre-prints; Google Scholar, July 2024). See more here.

Forward Ability Support has committed to partially funding Dr Grice’s project for three years, and the University of Queensland has committed contributions over this period as well. SpinalCure aims to raise Dr Grice’s profile among philanthropists and other funders to provide long-term support, as success in this project will ultimately mark a significant advance in precision SCI treatment.

Funding support from Hearts and Minds Investments, as nominated by Core Fund Manager, Caledonia.

This content was last updated in August 2025, for further information, visit SpinalCure Australia.