Several early-stage clinical trials indicate that implanting patients with the cells is safe. But whether they can alleviate neurological problems remains to be seen.

The machine cannot be used outside of the lab yet, but the results are promising.

Uncertainties about the cells’ risk profiles and the potential for hyping unproven therapies mean scientists and the media must tread carefully.

The treatment will be tested in a handful of patients who suffered nerve damage in sports or traffic accidents.

The eel-like lamprey can return to normal swimming and burrowing after suffering a severed spinal cord twice.

Precisely timed electrical stimulation and intensive rehabilitation restore some capacity to walk among three men more than four years after their debilitating injuries.

The first human experiment with neural precursor cells implanted to treat chronic spinal cord injury suggests the procedure is safe, and hints at a small benefit.  

Thousands of axons grew from the transplants and connected to damaged primate tissue, the first such demonstration in primates.

Zebrafish have a remarkable ability to heal their damaged nerve fibers following a spinal injury.

Neuroscientist Geoffrey Raisman pioneered the study of spinal cord injury and the use of cell transplants to repair the damage.

A 3-D carbon nanotube mesh enables rat spinal tissue sections to reconnect in culture.

A 24-year-old quadriplegic man regains control of his arm with a neural prosthetic device.

Early neurons reprogrammed from human skin cells show unprecedented axonal growth in a rat model of spinal cord injury.

Nearly three years after Geron shuttered its stem cell program, BioTime receives funding to relaunch a Phase 1 trial for spinal cord injury.

New PLOS data sharing rules; mouse cortical connectome published; reprogramming astrocytes into neurons and fibroblasts into hepatocytes

With a single gene, scientists reprogram supporting cells in the spines of living mice into new neurons.

A microtubule-severing enzyme curbs the regeneration of damaged nerve cells.

A transplant of cells from the lining of the nose helps dogs with spinal injuries walk again.

Geron is terminating a clinical trial testing a human embryonic stem cell treatment for spinal cord injury.