SHORT HILLS, N.J., March 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (CDRF) announced today that it has awarded $1,522,500 to support fourteen cutting-edge research projects through its Individual Research Grants program. The laboratories and scientists funded are located around the globe, and their projects span the entire research continuum from basic cellular and molecular-level laboratory work to clinical application in human patients.

"The Individual Research Grants program is the bedrock of the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation's strategic scientific approach to spinal cord repair," said Susan Howley, Vice President of Research of the CDRF. "The projects we have funded in this cycle represent the vanguard of promising new research in the field, and state-of-the-art in modern neuroscience."

The Foundation's support of basic research provides investigators the opportunity to take smart risks and bold ideas and turn them into catalytic breakthroughs with real potential for human application. Two projects funded in this cycle particularly demonstrate the CDRF's "bench to bedside" approach.

Dr. Abdeljabbar El Manira of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden will undertake a project investigating the spinal locomotor circuitry in zebrafish to identify the molecular mechanisms of plasticity (the ability of nerve cells to remodel themselves and grow new connections after injury). By studying the cellular-level changes that occur, Dr. El Manira will help lay a rational foundation for future therapeutic strategies for restoring movement after an injury.

At the other end of the research spectrum, the CDRF is funding a project by Dr. Jaimie Borisoff of the Neil Squire Brain Interface Lab at the University of British Columbia that will have an important, direct application to humans.

Studies have consistently shown that sexual health is a major priority among the spinal cord injured (SCI) community, and recovery of sexual functioning ranks high on their list of concerns. Dr. Borisoff's project will attempt a revolutionary approach to achieving this goal by creating an electro-tactile tongue input device that will create an awareness of sexual pleasure in people with chronic SCI. By changing the way patients perceive and experience sensations, the project will represent the first solution for sensory substitution in individuals with chronic SCI, and should lead to tangible improvements in their sexual health and happiness.

Though the connection between zebrafish and human sexuality may seem tenuous at first glance, both projects draw upon the basic science concept of neural plasticity. In fact, our current scientific understand of this neurological phenomenon is itself based on early pioneering work done at the Karolinska Institute and funded by CDRF that studied the locomotor circuitry of lampreys. In many ways, today's projects are building upon earlier advances and approaches championed by the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation years ago.

Dr. El Manira's and Dr. Borisoff's projects, as well as the others selected in this cycle, received funding as a result of a fiercely competitive evaluation process in which 155 applications were considered. Each research application is reviewed by the Foundation's Science Advisory Council, a panel of accomplished neuroscientists who volunteer their time and expertise to evaluate proposals based on scientific merit, relevance to CDRF's research priorities, and promise for clinical application. The selectivity assures that only the most promising projects with the most rigorous scientific approaches will receive funding.

"I am continually impressed by the outstanding quality of the applications, as this once-small field is now attracting many of the best and brightest young minds in the scientific community," said Howley. "Today, Christopher Reeve's dream of bringing the finest minds in science together to solve the problem of spinal cord repair is becoming a reality, through the continuing work of his Foundation."