Leveraging biomedical informatics for assessing plasticity and repair in primate spinal cord injury

This paper reviews the California Spinal Cord Consortium's (CSCC) efforts to develop a non-human primate model for spinal cord injury (SCI) research. The goal is to create a translational model that bridges the gap between small animal studies and human clinical trials, particularly for therapies aimed at restoring hand and arm function. The CSCC is using a biomedical informatics framework to manage and analyze large volumes of multidimensional data, including motor, sensory, autonomic, and pathological information, to understand plasticity and repair mechanisms after SCI. By integrating diverse data types and applying statistical science, the CSCC aims to maximize knowledge discovery and improve the potential for clinical translation of promising therapeutic strategies for SCI.

• 1
  The study highlights the development of a comprehensive preclinical data record for non-human primate SCI studies, including functional behavior, electrophysiology, kinematics, in vivo MRI, postmortem histopathology, and a full medical record.
• 2
  The research demonstrates the feasibility of integrating healthcare data into SCI research through a preclinical electronic medical records system, allowing for the alignment of health information with functional outcomes.
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  The findings emphasize the importance of multidimensional assessment of motor, sensory, and autonomic function, as well as histopathology, to identify syndromic patterns of functional recovery after SCI.