The 2016 Meet the Scientists Forum

For 16 years the Reeve-Irvine Research Center (RIRC) has been holding an annual “Meet the Scientists” forum, where community members and the public can come to hear about the progress RIRC members are making in spinal cord injury (SCI) research. The goal of this forum is to help educate and inform the community on new discoveries relevant to SCI. It is also an opportunity for people living with SCI and their family members to talk directly with our researchers and clinicians. This event is also important to our researchers as it has helped us target research toward the needs of the spinal cord injury population. What many may not realize is that the forum initially stemmed from a special request from Christopher Reeve to meet with SCI researchers to hear scientific updates. After his pass sing the event has continued on and is now opened up to the public and has been a valuable exchange of information.

This year, Drs. Zoran Nenadic and An Do demonstrated their Brain Computer interface study, a novel brain-computer-interface (BCI) technology created by the University of California, Irvine researchers that has allowed a man with paraplegia to walk for a short distance, with body weight support. This study received much attention from the media. We were excited to have them here in the iMOVE laboratory to personally talk to our guests at the event. Dr. David Reinkesmeyer also demonstrated his music glove study to help improve hand and arm function.

Other Reeve-Irvine Faculty members were also present to discuss areas of research including regeneration of connections in the injured spinal cord (Dr. Os Steward), pain following SCI (Drs. David Luo and Catherine Cahill) and exciting new ways to manipulate molecules that block regeneration (Dr. Melanie Cocco).

Drs. Reinkensmeyer and Sharp are recruiting volunteers for this study. Click this link to see the ad for more information on enrolling as a participant.

Look for information on next year’s Meet the Scientists here on our website and be sure to join our Facebook page. For additional information contact Tania Jope at (949) 824-5925 or tania.jope@uci.edu