Present position: Since 1986 consultant at Clinic for Spinal Cord Injuries at Rigshospitalet. Since 2008 Clinical professor with special focus on spinal cord injuries at University of Copenhagen.

Educational and supervisor functions, e.g.: Extensive lecturing wordwide. Supervised 18 PhD (incl. nurse, engineers and MDs), and several Bachelor and Candidate projects. Initiated the development of the www.elearnsci.org.

Editor and evaluator duties, e.g.: 1990- Editorial board of Spinal Cord. 1992-98 Associate editor for Journal of rehabilitation sciences. 1993-2003 Advisory board for SPINE. 1999- Advisory board for Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine. In addition reviewer for 30 other journals. Opponent to several DrMedSci/PhD theses, and evaluated projects etc. for research councils, universities, etc. in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, England, Austria, Australia, Canada, USA, Korea.

Scientific committee, board membership etc.: Have been and is member of a number committees and boards nationally and internationally. These include: 1987- Nordic Medical Society of Paraplegia: 1987-91 member of Advisory Council, 1991-93 honorary secretary & treasurer, President 1993-99 & 2015-. Organiser of the meeting in Copenhagen 1991. 1988- Board of Danish Society of Rehabilitation: 1988-91 honorary secretary, 1991-96 & 2000-01 vice president, President 1996-2000. 1988-2005 Danish representative in The International Society for Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine. 1996-2001 Danish deputy for representative in Rehabilitaion International, 2000-2001 vice chairman for the Medical Commission. 1992- member of Council and several subcommittees in International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS): 1997-2003 Vice-president. 2002-2008 Chair of the Scientific Committee. 2008-2010 President elect, President 2011-2012, President for the meeting in Copenhagen 1999. 2002- chair for International SCI Data Set Committee under ISCoS and American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA). 2005-2008 Vice-president of the Danish Association for Neurorehabilitation.

Scientific projects: Since 1992 partner or manager to several international and EU projects: the EUREKA-project CALIES (Computer Aided Locomotion by Implanted electrical Stimulation), from 1995 continued in the Biomed II-project SUAW (Stand Up And Walk). EU-projects under TIDE, EPCES (EMG signals from Paretic muscles Controlling Electrical Stimulation of the same muscle), and CREST (Clinical Rehabilitation using Electrical Stimulation via Telematics). Biomed II project PRO-ESOR, regarding outcome measures in rehabilitation. Take part in several national and international projects, with cooperating partners in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America, including NIH and WHO.

Scientific awards: 1983 the Volvo Award on low back pain research – Clinical studies. The International Society for the study of the lumbar spine, Cambridge, England. 1984 the Poliomyelitis Society Research Award. 1984 & 1996 the Spinal Award from the Danish Society of Manual Medicine. In 1996 as co-author. 1995 the Research Award from The Danish Foundation for Disabled. 1996 the Lars Sullivan Spinalis Award, Atlanta, USA (co-author). 1997 the Paraplegia Prize, Innsbruck, Austria (co-author). 2005 Lars Sullivan Memorial Lecture. Nordic Spinal Cord Society, Bergen, Norway. 2007 Awarded the International Spinal Cord Society highest honour, the Society Medal, Reykjavik, Iceland. 2007 Honorary President of the Romanian Spinal Cord Society – RoSCoS. 2010 Oration. Spinal Cord Society, New Delhi, India. 2011 Special Invited Guest Speaker. 46^th Annual Meeting of the Japan Medical Society for Spinal Cord Lesion, Osaka, Japan. 2013 Award “For Outstanding Contributions to ASIA, and to Spinal Cord Medicine” at ASIA, 40^th anniversary in Chicago, Illinois, USA. 2013 Hannu Alaranta Memorial lecture. Nordic Spinal Cord Society congress, Helsinki, Finland. 2016 International Spinal Research Trust Special Lecture, London, UK. 2017 American Spinal Injury Association Lifetime Achievement Award, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.

Biographies: Listed in Who’s Who in the World since 1993, and related international biographies (Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare, Who’s Who in Science and Engineering), and Den Blå Bog (”Who’s Who in Denmark”) since 2015.

Publications: According to Google Scholar: h-index 58 (since 2012: 39), i10-index 162 (since 2012: 119), 34 papers with 100+ citations, Sum of Times Cited 16143 (since 2012: 7350). In PubMed 310 articles are registered under Biering-Sorensen F OR Biering-Soerensen F, some are registered under Sorensen FB. 35 book-chapters, 75 proceedings, etc. In addition, books about hitch-hiking in Africa.

Other: Was part of sports for disabled since 1978 including changing the classification system to be sports specific and the name to be Paralympics. Former Danish Champion and record holder in swimming and has broken more than 160 Danish and 50 Nordic masters’ records. Visited more than 155 countries.

President of R&D and Chief Scientific Officer

Jane S. Lebkowski, Ph.D., is President of R&D and Chief Scientific Officer and joined Asterias in March 2013 after a thirteen year career at Geron where she served as Senior Vice President, Cell Therapies from 2004 to 2011, and also as Chief Scientific Officer from 2009 to 2011. From August 1999 until January 2004, Dr. Lebkowski served as Vice President of Cell Therapies, and from April 1998 until August 1999, she served as Senior Director, Cell and Gene Therapies at Geron. Dr. Lebkowski managed research and development of Geron’s immunotherapy products for cancer treatment and its hES based products for regenerative medicine. Prior to joining Geron, she spent more than ten years at Applied Immune Sciences and then at Rhone Poulenc Rorer, which acquired Applied Immune Sciences in 1995, advancing from research scientist to Vice President of Research and Development. Dr. Lebkowski has co-authored numerous scientific publications. Dr. Lebkowski holds a B.S. in Chemistry and Biology from Syracuse University, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University.

Source: https://asteriasbiotherapeutics.com

– Adjunct Professor of Neurological Surgery
Dr. Bresnahan’s research focuses on understanding the biological underpinnings of neurotrauma, particularly spinal cord injury, with the goal of improving recovery for individuals who suffer damage to the nervous system. Her laboratory has developed a number of models to study cellular systems and behavioral changes that occur as a consequence of injury. Her major research interests are cell death mechanisms, including excitotoxicity; regeneration and repair (especially of oligodendrocytes — the glial cells that produce myelin); neuroprotection; transplantation; and mechanisms of functional recovery after cervical spinal cord injury in both rodent and primate models.

Selected Recent Publications

– Downing TL, Wang A, Yan ZQ, Nout Y, Lee AL, Beattie MS, Bresnahan JC, Farmer DL, Li S. Drug-eluting microfibrous patches for the local delivery of rolipram in spinal cord repair. J Control Release 2012;161(3):910-917.

– Stück ED, Christensen RN, Huie JR, Tovar CA, Miller BA, Nout YS, Bresnahan JC, Beattie MS, Ferguson AR. Tumor necrosis factor alpha mediates GABA(A) receptor trafficking to the plasma membrane of spinal cord neurons in vivo. Neural Plast 2012;2012:261345.

– Gensel JC, Tovar CA, Bresnahan JC, Beattie MS. Topiramate treatment is neuroprotective and reduces oligodendrocyte loss after cervical spinal cord injury. PLoS One 2012;7(3):e33519.

– Nout YS, Rosenzweig ES, Brock JH, Strand SC, Moseanko R, Hawbecker S, Zdunowski S, Nielson JL, Roy RR, Courtine G, Ferguson AR, Edgerton VR, Beattie MS, Bresnahan JC, Tuszynski MH. Animal models of neurologic disorders: a nonhuman primate model of spinal cord injury. Neurotherapeutics 2012;9(2):380-92.

– Sorani MD, Beattie MS, Bresnahan JC. A Quantitative Analysis of Clinical Trial Designs in Spinal Cord Injury Based on ICCP Guidelines. J Neurotrauma 2012;29(9):1736-46.

– Nout YS, Ferguson AR, Strand SC, Moseanko R, Hawbecker S, Zdunowski S, Nielson JL, Roy RR, Zhong H, Rosenzweig ES, Brock JH, Courtine G, Edgerton VR, Tuszynski MH, Beattie MS, Bresnahan JC. Methods for Functional Assessment After C7 Spinal Cord Hemisection in the Rhesus Monkey. Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2012 Feb 13. [Epub ahead of print].

Source: University of California, San Francisco. http://neurosurgery.ucsf.edu/index.php/about_us_faculty_bresnehan.html

Michael S. Beattie, Ph.D. Dr. Beattie received his Ph.D. from The Ohio State University in 1977, where he stayed on to become the founding chair of the Department of Neuroscience. He and his wife and colleague Jacqueline Bresnahan joined the University of California, San Francisco in 2006. He is currently Co-Director and Director of Research for the Brain and Spinal Injury Center (BASIC) in the Weill Institute for Neurosciences and Department of Neurological Surgery at UCSF. His interests are in the cell biology of CNS injury and repair, and preclinical and clinical neurotrauma. He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers and serves on multiple editorial and NIH and other review panels. He is the recipient of the 2012 Reeve-Irvine Research medal for excellence in spinal cord injury research.

Selected Recent Publications

– Downing TL, Wang A, Yan ZQ, Nout Y, Lee AL, Beattie MS, Bresnahan JC, Farmer DL, Li S. Drug-eluting microfibrous patches for the local delivery of rolipram in spinal cord repair. J Control Release 2012;161(3):910-917.

– Stück ED, Christensen RN, Huie JR, Tovar CA, Miller BA, Nout YS, Bresnahan JC,Beattie MS, Ferguson AR. Tumor necrosis factor alpha mediates GABA(A) receptor trafficking to the plasma membrane of spinal cord neurons in vivo. Neural Plast 2012;2012:261345.

– Gensel JC, Tovar CA, Bresnahan JC, Beattie MS. Topiramate treatment is neuroprotective and reduces oligodendrocyte loss after cervical spinal cord injury. PLoS One 2012;7(3):e33519.

– Nout YS, Rosenzweig ES, Brock JH, Strand SC, Moseanko R, Hawbecker S, Zdunowski S, Nielson JL, Roy RR, Courtine G, Ferguson AR, Edgerton VR, Beattie MS, Bresnahan JC, Tuszynski MH. Animal models of neurologic disorders: a nonhuman primate model of spinal cord injury. Neurotherapeutics 2012;9(2):380-92.

– Sorani MD, Beattie MS, Bresnahan JC. A Quantitative Analysis of Clinical Trial Designs in Spinal Cord Injury Based on ICCP Guidelines. J Neurotrauma 2012;29(9):1736-46.

– Nout YS, Ferguson AR, Strand SC, Moseanko R, Hawbecker S, Zdunowski S, Nielson JL, Roy RR, Zhong H, Rosenzweig ES, Brock JH, Courtine G, Edgerton VR, Tuszynski MH, Beattie MS, Bresnahan JC. Methods for Functional Assessment After C7 Spinal Cord Hemisection in the Rhesus Monkey. Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2012 Feb 13. [Epub ahead of print].

Dr. Courtine is Principal Investigator at the Center for Neuroprosthetic and Brain Mind Institute of the Life Science School at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL)

In the lab his research group conceive and deploy innovative interventions to restore motor functions after central nervous system disorders, especially spinal cord injury, and to translate their findings into clinical applications capable of improving the quality of life for people with motor impairments.

Research topics:

– neuroprosthetic systems

–  robotic interfaces and advanced neurorehabilitation

– neuroregenerative interventions in rodent and primate models of neurological disorders

Selected Publications

Electronic Dura Mater Meddling in the Central Nervous System. Bloch J, Lacour SP, Courtine G. JAMA Neurol. 2017 Apr 1;74(4):470-475. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2016.5767.

Biodegradable scaffolds promote tissue remodeling and functional improvement in non-human primates with acute spinal cord injury. Slotkin JR, Pritchard CD, Luque B, Ye J, Layer RT, Lawrence MS, O’Shea TM, Roy RR, Zhong H, Vollenweider I, Edgerton VR, Courtine G, Woodard EJ, Langer R. Biomaterials. 2017 Apr;123:63-76. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2017.01.024. Epub 2017 Jan 25.

Rehabilitative Soft Exoskeleton for Rodents. Florez JM, Shah M, Martin Moraud E, Wurth S, Baud L, von Zitzewitz J, Van Den Brand R, Micera S, Courtine G, Paik J. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2016 Mar 18. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2016.2535352.

Long-term usability and bio-integration of polyimide-based intra-neural stimulating electrodes. Wurth S, Capogrosso M, Raspopovic S, Gandar J, Federici G, Kinany N, Cutrone A, Piersigilli A, Pavlova N, Guiet R, Taverni G, Rigosa J, Shkorbatova P, Navarro X, Barraud Q, Courtine G, Micera S. Biomaterials. 2017 Apr;122:114-129. doi: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2017.01.014. Epub 2017 Jan 13.

A brain-spine interface alleviating gait deficits after spinal cord injury in primates. Capogrosso M, Milekovic T, Borton D, Wagner F, Moraud EM, Mignardot JB, Buse N, Gandar J, Barraud Q, Xing D, Rey E, Duis S, Jianzhong Y, Ko WK, Li Q, Detemple P, Denison T, Micera S, Bezard E, Bloch J, Courtine G. Nature. 2016 Nov 10;539(7628):284-288. doi: 10.1038/nature20118.

Source: École Polytechnique Féderale de Lausanne. http://courtine-lab.epfl.ch/

Dr. Guillermo Garcia-Alias will join the Institut de Neurociències on March 2016 as a Ramón y Cajal Researcher. He obtained his PhD at the group of Neuroplasticy and Regeneration at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. For the last ten years he has been working at several international universities including Boston University (USA), Cambridge University Centre for Brain Repair (UK), State University of New York (USA), and theUniversity of California at Los Angeles (USA).

Dr. Garcia-Alias studies how the brain is connected to the spinal cord, and how the descending motor commands are conducted, processed and executed along the central nervous system (CNS) axes to perform specific arm and hand skilled movements. He is especially interested in promoting spinal cord plasticity after an injury, by facilitating the function of the spared connectome. He investigates how to activate or reorganize spinal networks in order to restore skilled hand function in rodents with traumatic injuries of the brain or spinal cord. For this purpose, he employs electrophysiological, behavioral and anatomical techniques to identify the changes in the CNS.

PUBLICATIONS

Electrical neuromodulation of the cervical spinal cord facilitates forelimb skilled function recovery in spinal cord injured rats.

Alam M, Garcia-Alias G, Jin B, Keyes J, Zhong H, Roy RR, Gerasimenko Y, Lu DC, Edgerton VR.

Exp Neurol. 2017 May;291:141-150. doi: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2017.02.006.

Longitudinal Evaluation of Residual Cortical and Subcortical Motor Evoked Potentials in Spinal Cord Injured Rats.

Redondo-Castro E, Navarro X, García-Alías G.

J Neurotrauma. 2016 May 15;33(10):907-16. doi: 10.1089/neu.2015.4140.

Who is who after spinal cord injury and repair? Can the brain stem descending motor pathways take control of skilled hand motor function?

García-Alías G, Edgerton VR.

Neural Regen Res. 2015 Nov;10(11):1735-6. doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.165318. No abstract available.

Evaluation of optimal electrode configurations for epidural spinal cord stimulation in cervical spinal cord injured rats.

Alam M, Garcia-Alias G, Shah PK, Gerasimenko Y, Zhong H, Roy RR, Edgerton VR.

J Neurosci Methods. 2015 May 30;247:50-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2015.03.012. Erratum in: J Neurosci Methods. 2015 Oct 30;254:102-3.

Plasticity of subcortical pathways promote recovery of skilled hand function in rats after corticospinal and rubrospinal tract injuries.

García-Alías G, Truong K, Shah PK, Roy RR, Edgerton VR.

Exp Neurol. 2015 Apr;266:112-9. doi: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2015.01.009.

Use of quadrupedal step training to re-engage spinal interneuronal networks and improve locomotor function after spinal cord injury.

Shah PK, Garcia-Alias G, Choe J, Gad P, Gerasimenko Y, Tillakaratne N, Zhong H, Roy RR, Edgerton VR.

Brain. 2013 Nov;136(Pt 11):3362-77. doi: 10.1093/brain/awt265. Erratum in: Brain. 2015 Feb;138(Pt 2):e332.

Sub-threshold spinal cord stimulation facilitates spontaneous motor activity in spinal rats.

Gad P, Choe J, Shah P, Garcia-Alias G, Rath M, Gerasimenko Y, Zhong H, Roy RR, Edgerton VR.

J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2013 Oct 24;10:108. doi: 10.1186/1743-0003-10-108.

Quantitative assessment of locomotion and interlimb coordination in rats after different spinal cord injuries.

Redondo-Castro E, Torres-Espín A, García-Alías G, Navarro X.

J Neurosci Methods. 2013 Mar 15;213(2):165-78. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2012.12.024.

Plastic changes in lumbar segments after thoracic spinal cord injuries in adult rats: an integrative view of spinal nociceptive dysfunctions.

Redondo-Castro E, García-Alías G, Navarro X.

Restor Neurol Neurosci. 2013;31(4):411-30. doi: 10.3233/RNN-120291.

Training and anti-CSPG combination therapy for spinal cord injury.

García-Alías G, Fawcett JW.

Exp Neurol. 2012 May;235(1):26-32. doi: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2011.09.009. Review.

Source: UAB, Institut Neurociències.  http://inc.uab.cat/English/News.php?Noticia=343

Ephron Rosenzweig earned his BA in Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley and his PhD in Neuroscience from University of University of Arizona, Tucson, followed by postdoctoral posts at Washington University in St. Louis and UC San Diego, where he became an assistant project scientist in 2008.

He has extensive experience in CNS plasticity and regeneration research, in both rodent and primate models of spinal cord injury. In addition, he has many years of experience in electrophysiological research on learning, memory, and aging. Since 2005, he has directed the Primate Spinal Cord Injury Research Project at Dr. Mark Tuszynski’s Center for Neural Repair at UCSD. This collaborative effort is a comprehensive evaluation of potential treatments for spinal cord injury.

Researh

Dr. Rosenzweig primarily researches spinal cord injury repair. Much of his work is part of the California Primate Spinal Cord Injury Consortium, a group composed of researchers from UCSD, UCLA, UCSF, UC Irvine, UC Davis, Colorado State University, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

Drawing only the most promising candidate treatments from research in rodent models of SCI, this group examines the neuroanatomical, electrophysiological, and functional efficacies of those treatments in a non-human primate (NHP) model of SCI. His main current focus is on the formation of long-distance neuronal relays using neural stem cells transplanted into SCI lesions. As part of the UCSD Center for Neural Repair, he also collaborates on similar studies in rodents (Lu et al., Cell, 2012).

Recently, Dr. Rosenzweig expanded his research program to include central neuropathic pain, which not only affects many people with SCI, but can also result from multiple sclerosis and stroke. He is attempting to use DREADD technology (Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs) to specifically alleviate central neuropathic pain in rodent models.

Last publications

Nielson, J.L., Guandique, C.F., Liu, A.W., Burke, D.A., Lash, A.T., Moseanko, R., Hawbecker, S., Strand, S.C., Zdunowski, S., Irvine, K.-A., Brock, J.H., Nout, Y.S., Gensel, J.C., Anderson, K.D., Segal, M.R., Rosenzweig, E.S., Magnuson, D.S.K., Whittemore, S.R., McTigue, D.M., Popovich, P.G., Rabchevsky, A.G., Scheff, S.W., Steward, O., Courtine, G., Edgerton, V.R., Tuszynski, M.H., Beattie, M.S., Bresnahan, J.C., & Ferguson, A.R. (2014). Development of a Database for Translational Spinal Cord Injury Research. J Neurotrauma, In press.

Lu, P., Wang, Y., Graham, L., McHale, K., Gao, M., Wu, D., Brock, J., Blesch, A., Rosenzweig, E.S., Havton, L.A., Zheng, B., Conner, J.M., and Tuszynski, M.H. (2012). Long-distance growth and connectivity of neural stem/progenitor cells after severe spinal cord injury. Cell, 150:1264-1273.

Nout, Y.S., Rosenzweig, E.S., Brock, J.H., Ferguson, A.R., Strand, S.C., Moseanko, R., Hawbecker, S., Zdunowski, S., Courtine, G., Nielson, J.L., Roy, R.R., Zhong, H., Edgerton, V.R., Beattie, M.S., Bresnahan, J.C., and Tuszynski, M.H. (2012). Animal models of neurologic disorders: a non-human primate model of spinal cord injury. Neurotherapeutics, 9:380-392.

Nout, Y.S., Ferguson, A.R., Strand, S.C., Moseanko, R., Hawbecker, S., Zdunowski, S., Nielson, J.L., Roy, R.R., Zhong, H., Rosenzweig, E.S., Brock, J.H., Edgerton, V.R., Tuszynski, M.H., Beattie, M.S., and Bresnahan, J.C. (2012). Methods for functional assessment after C7 spinal cord hemisection in the rhesus monkey. Neurorehab Neural Repair, 26:556-569.

Rosenzweig, E.S., Courtine, G., Jindrich, D.L., Brock, J.H., Strand, S.C., Ferguson, A.R., Nout, Y.S., Roy, R.R., Miller, D.M., Beattie, M.S., Havton, L.A., Bresnahan, J.C., Edgerton, V.R., and Tuszynski, M.H., Extensive spontaneous plasticity of corticospinal projections after primate spinal cord injury. Nature Neuroscience, 2010. 13:1505-1510.

Source: UC San DIEGO School of Medicine. https://neurosciences.ucsd.edu