Dr. Vic Rafuse aims to engineer and re-wire neurons to restore spinal cord function 

As a member of Dalhousie Medical School’s thriving spinal cord research group, Dr. Victor Rafuse is intent on restoring movement in people with spinal cord injuries. He and his colleagues have already proven that stem cells can be engineered into motor neurons – the specialized nerve cells in the spinal cord that allow us to move and use our arms and legs. These neurons are also destroyed in patients with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).

His challenge is to make sure the engineered motor neurons make the right brain-to-body connections when transplanted into the spinal cord.

“We’ve shown that our motor neurons can be transplanted and form working connections to the muscles,” says Dr. Victor Rafuse, an associate professor in the Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology and winner of the 2007 Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation Award of Excellence for Basic Research. “Now we are fine-tuning the neurons’ ability to connect brain signals to the right muscles, so a person could properly control movement.”

To do this, he and his graduate students are studying ‘axon guidance.’ “Motor neurons send long tendrils, called axons, from their home in the spinal cord to the far reaches of the body,” Dr. Rafuse explains. “In the developing human, cues from the muscles guide the axons to the right location. We’re trying to identify those cues and make the axons respond to them.”

At the same time, Dr. Rafuse is investigating stem cells to see if the growth factors they secrete can help transplanted motor neurons survive. “Stem cells nourish the nerve cells – if given right after a spinal cord injury, they may also help prevent loss of function.”

Dr. Rafuse works closely with Dalhousie neurosurgeons and basic scientists within the spinal cord group, and notes: “We’re on the verge of applying this work in humans.”