A gene that predisposes people to chronic pain, an album by Genesis and a meeting with Phil Collins all played a role in the creation of the Reeve Foundation’s first scientific research consortium. Mark Tuszynski, now a distinguished professor of biomedical engineering, neurology and anatomy at the University of California, San Diego, helped found the consortium in 1999 as the Reeve-Irvine Research Center and now leads it as director of the Reeve-Irvine Research Center, the Reeve Foundation’s scientific research arm. Research conducted by the consortium has led to multiple clinical trials investigating new treatments for spinal cord injury. Earlier this year, Tuszynski and his colleagues launched a $25 million clinical trial—the largest ever privately funded spinal cord injury research effort—to study the safety and effectiveness of using a patient’s own stem cells to restore function after acute injury. In a recent interview, Tuszynski discussed the factors that led him to study spinal cord injury, the challenges he has encountered along the way and his hopes for the future of research in the field. Tuszynski’s interest in chronic pain began more than 40 years ago, when he was an undergraduate at McGill University in Montreal. One of his closest friends at the time suffered from a chronic pain condition, and Tuszynski was struck by how little was known about the underlying causes of the condition and how to treat it. After graduating from McGill, Tuszynski went on to earn a PhD in physiology and biophysics from the University of Washington. He then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco, where he began to study the genetics of chronic pain. In 1986, Tuszynski and his colleagues discovered a gene that predisposes people to chronic pain. The gene, called SCN9A, encodes a sodium channel that is essential for the transmission of pain signals. Tuszynski’s research showed that people who have a mutation in the SCN9A gene are more likely to experience chronic pain. This discovery was a major breakthrough in the field of pain research, and it helped to lay the foundation for the development of new treatments for chronic pain. In the late 1980s, Tuszynski was attending a Genesis concert when he met Phil Collins. Collins, who is also a drummer, had suffered a spinal cord injury in a car accident in 1985. Tuszynski was inspired by Collins’s story, and he began to think about how he could use his research on chronic pain to help people with spinal cord injuries. In 1999, Tuszynski and his colleagues founded the Reeve-Irvine Research Center. The center’s mission is to conduct cutting-edge research on spinal cord injury and to translate that research into new treatments for people with spinal cord injuries. Tuszynski said that one of the biggest challenges he has encountered in his research is the lack of funding. Spinal cord injury research is a relatively small field, and it can be difficult to secure funding for research projects. Tuszynski said that he is hopeful that the recent launch of the $25 million clinical trial will help to raise awareness of spinal cord injury research and attract more funding to the field. Tuszynski said that he is also hopeful for the future of research in the field of spinal cord injury. He said that he believes that stem cell research has the potential to lead to new treatments for spinal cord injury, and he is excited to see what the future holds. Despite the challenges, Tuszynski said that he is passionate about his work and that he is committed to finding new treatments for people with spinal cord injuries. He said that he believes that one day, spinal cord injuries will be curable, and he is dedicated to making that day a reality..
Gene Susceptible to 1986 Album and Meeting Phil Collins Changed Life for Spinal Cord Injury Lab Founder
