Science Professor Dedicates His Work In Search Of Repair of Injured Spinal Cords

A biological science assistant professor Li Yao is determined to find a process that will repair injured spinal cords. His research is dedicated to finding therapeutic methods to rejuvenate injured spinal cord cells and help the victims live a better quality of life. Yao and his students including a post doctoral researcher operate out of a lab on the fifth floor of Wichita University. They have been supported with equipment, space and an operating room, by the university. They have been using different methods like biomaterial scaffolding, stem cells, electrical signals and gene vectors to repair and rejuvenate injured spinal cords and its peripheral nerves. Yao was trained in spinal injuries at Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic at Rochester. He has also worked on the regeneration of spinal cord cells in animals. A biodegradable neural conduit developed by him has been used to treat spinal cord injuries with great success. He is currently expending on that work.