This is absolutely astounding. The article is from 2016, but I just heard about it when Dr. James Tour posted the following short on YouTube.
www.twu.ca
TWU graduate creates nanomaterial that could help repair spinal cord injuries
A doctoral student from Langley has created a nanomaterial that could be life-changing for paraplegics and quadriplegics.
www.twu.ca
A doctoral student from Langley has created a nanomaterial that could be life-changing for people with spinal cord injuries. The discovery was published in Surgical Neurology International today.
William Sikkema graduated from Trinity Western University in 2014 and is currently completing a PhD at Rice University in Texas. He has synthesized a material called Texas-PEG, which is a functionalized type of graphene nanoribbons meant for medical use.
The customized nanoribbons have succeeded in restoring function in rat models whose spinal cords were severed in a procedure performed at Konkuk University in South Korea. Only 24 hours after their spinal cords were severed, rats showed some electrical connection between the brain and body. Almost full motor movement—90 per cent—was restored after only two weeks of recovery, and 95 per cent after three weeks. Previous experiments, without the nanoribbons, saw only about 10 per cent recovery of motor control after four weeks.
