The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, a Center of Excellence at the University of Miami School of Medicine, is the world's largest, most comprehensive research center dedicated to finding more effective treatments and, ultimately, a cure for paralysis that results from spinal cord injury.

The Miami Project was founded in 1985 through the vision and dedicated efforts of Dr. Barth Green, an internationally recognized expert in the field of spinal cord injury. National attention focused on the Miami Project following the injury of football legend Nick Buoniconti's son, Marc. The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis raises money exclusively for the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis.

The Miami Project has assembled a broad spectrum of researchers, clinicians, and therapists whose expertise all relate directly to the problem of spinal cord injury and whose full-time focus is spinal cord injury research. By uniting this broad range of knowledge and talents, the Miami Project team of scientists is accelerating the search for effective treatments for spinal cord injury.

While many of their rehabilitation and clinical research programs enroll individuals with spinal cord injury, these individuals serve as volunteer research subjects. If you are interested in being considered as a research subject, please see the Intake Form information. As a research center, the Miami Project does not provide comprehensive care, treatment, or medical and rehabilitation evaluations. If you are interested in care or a clinical evaluation, they encourage you to utilize the Resource Information Guide to investigate possibilities at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Medical Center or in your area.

WHERE DO FUNDS FOR THE MIAMI PROJECT COME FROM? HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Funding comes from individuals, corporations, foundations, civic organizations, and federal agencies. Over eighty percent of the Miami Project's annual budget supports research and education programs. The Miami Project's efforts to discover methods for repairing the damaged spinal cord are at the leading edge. Without your help, the Miami Project's search for a cure cannot continue. 

Surgical intervention:

• Intra-operative monitoring to preserve spinal cord function;
• Cord un-tethering to restore cerebrospinal fluid flow;
• Delayed decompression.

New insights into human and mammalian spinal cord physiology:

• Post_injury changes in human spinal cord circuitry;
• Central pattern generator for human locomotion;
• Neuromuscular aspects of strength and fatigue;
• Studies of locomotion after incomplete injury;
• Brain and spinal cord control of locomotion in mammals.

New perspectives in rehabilitation:

• Evaluation of assistive walking devices;
• Effects of FES driven exercise on cardiovascular and immune system function;
• Body weight suspension, treadmill and/or FES training to improve locomotion after SCI;
• Male fertility research program;
• Pain research to develop new therapies for neuropathic pain afer SCI;
• Development of exercise protocols to improve arm strength and fitness in paraplegics.

Pathology of human and experimental spinal cord injury:

• Neuroprotection after CNS injury: Hypothermia, growth factor and/or IL-10 administration;
• Regulation and modulation of cytokine expression after CNS injury;
• Human spinal cord pathology;
• Excitotoxicity model of spinal cord injury.

Tools and techniques for transplantation to promote recovery:

• Combination strategies for Schwann cell transplantation to bridge spinal cord injuries;
• Development of auto-transplantation methods using adult human myelin forming cells (Schwann cells, olfactory ensheathing glia and oligodendrocytes);
• Genetically engineering and grafting of neuronal, glial or adrenal chromaffin cells to enhance regeneration and/or alleviate chronic pain;
• The molecular biology and pharmacology of neurotrophic factors and their receptors;
• Development of stem cell populations for use in spinal cord transplantation;
• Embryonic motor neuron grafts to restore innervation to denervated muscles;

Functional analysis of growth inhibitory proteins in the regulation of regeneration;

• Use of genetic tools to define how neurons respond to growth factors; developing therapeutic strategies based on this.

For information about findings from Miami Project research laboratories, visit the Research section of Miami Project site.