Of course we will need to see this replicated and larger trials are planned in UK and Poland. It is early days but this is definatively a move in the right direction.
On the down side I wonder how many quack sites will spring up offering OEC. However this is not a simple procedure and this requires brain surgery and are not nose cells as reported widely in the media..
Perhaps a cut is the best thing to try and heal first. As you know a sharp cut leaves a nice scar whereas a blunt damage does not. However the treatment was long after the injury. The challenge for MS is greater because you have an ongoing disease process and multiple sites of damage. However the fact that this approach was started many months after the injury leaves me with a lot more optimism.
However, this has involved a lot of hard work but the recipient and his rehabilitation has been ongoing for 2 years..so remember it may not be a quick fix, but that this work suggests that nerves can have plasticity.
I remember when Geoff was presenting his inaugural lecture at Queen Square and watching his injured rats climb ladders. I saw that his funding was largely from charities and not central government and the trials were funded by the efforts of some dedicated people. It is through this support, that breakthroughs are possible and so keep up the good work...Research needs you!
It will be some time before this treatment becomes standard practice but a giant stride forward, so well done to all those involved notably the Polish Team.
The results are published in Cell Transplantation, which a couple of years ago had No Impact Factor and now it is around four. The impact factor is a metric that some people i the University Top Brass use to judge how good the work is....This shows that you should judge a book by its cover. This paper has no doubt had global media coverage, is this the new metric....If it is time to start research on sex...it always gets the media interested:-)
For those of you in the UK who want to know more on the story then go to BBC iPlayer and you have a month to see the programme broadcast yesterday "To Walk Again" on Panorama. This is science in action.