Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
improvement) with the ultimate goal of successful clinical translation. For
this purpose, frameworks need to be established, which are currently only
poorly reflected in relevant funding schemes—with few exceptions. One
is the National Institute of Health funded initiative FORE-SCI, which al-
lows to reassess SCI repair preclinical studies in terms of efficacy (
Pinzon,
Marcillo, Pabon, et al., 2008; Steward, Sharp, Selvan, et al., 2006;
Steward et al., 2008
). Vertically means communication between preclinical
and clinical research oriented investigators needs to be intensified in order to
adjust preclinical strategies according to patients' needs, develop, and har-
monize outcome parameters, thus allowing a more time- and cost-efficient
clinical translation.
It is clearly understood by the scientific community that the expectations
of patients and relatives are understandably high to move on toward clinical
application sooner rather than later. Only highly focused collaborative efforts
will be able to expedite the process of careful preclinical development in order
to establish a therapeutic strategy that eventually may improve the medical
condition of spinal cord injured individuals.
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