Research Advancing Kentucky: Restoring movement to those with spinal cord injuries
Researchers at the University of Kentucky play an important role in advancing the health, well-being and future of our Commonwealth.
Much of that work is done with support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). That support allows our researchers to find answers to many of the critical health issues facing Kentuckians.
John Gensel, Ph.D., is supported by the NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders & Stroke, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Drug Abuse, and National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
Gensel is the endowed chair and director of the UK Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center as well as a professor in the Department of Physiology in the UK College of Medicine.
His research focuses on developing therapies and treatments to improve outcomes after spinal cord injury. His lab is currently developing biomarkers to improve diagnostics for individuals with degenerative cervical myelopathy — the most common type of spinal cord injury — who are treated at UK.
Gensel is partnering with industry leaders and researchers in the College of Pharmacy and the Department of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences to create new therapeutics. All of this work has one goal: to improve the quality of life for patients with spinal cord injuries.
“NIH funding supports our research core facilities, which the Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center relies on to examine, analyze and evaluate samples and, ultimately, advance our work,” said Gensel. “We also want to advance Kentucky by training the next generation of doctors and scientists that will help UK to remain one of the top research institutions in the country regarding neurotrauma research.”
Gensel and other members of the research community shared the importance of NIH-funded research at UK in this video series from Research Communications.
Learn more about each featured researcher.
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