Creating Our Future with Spinal Cord Injury Therapy | James St John | TEDxYouth@ABPatersonCollege

A/Prof James St John is an incredibly talented and innovative professor who hopes to demonstrate the endless possibilities of science. Continuing the ground-breaking research of the 2017 Australian of the Year, Prof Alan Mackay-Sim, A/Prof St John and his team are developing a therapy to treat spinal cord injury by designing a nerve bridge ready for transplantation into the spinal cord. The team uses a combination of advanced cell purification techniques and bioengineering using three-dimensional cell culture and hope to progress to human clinical trial in 2020. Most importantly, the key to success is to put the needs of the patient at the forefront of research and to use a community approach so that we can create products ready for the clinic as quickly as possible. Dr James St John is an incredibly talented and innovative professor who hopes to demonstrate the endless possibilities of science. Continuing the groundbreaking research of the 2017 Australian of the Year, Dr Alan Mackay-Sim, Dr St John and his team have developed therapies to treat acquired brain injury and spinal cord injury through the combination of advanced cell purification techniques and natural product drug discovery and engineering. Dr St John also investigates how bacteria can penetrate the brain and spinal cord via entry from the nasal cavity, in hopes to develop new therapies due to its associations with diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. Dr St John is also working on developing new therapies to repair the injured olfactory (sense of smell) system. The focus of these therapies is to identify natural products that stimulate the neural stem cells and glia, to regenerate the olfactory system after widespread injury or infection. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx