The Marina Romoli Onlus charity identifies nsif’s research as a project to support

An Italian charity that supports research into curing chronic spinal cord injury has identified nsif’s research as a project to support, and made a generous donation towards the work we fund.

The Marina Romoli Onlus charity saw the BBC Panorama programme in October 2014 and got in contact with us shortly afterwards. They came and visited the UK to understand fully the project we are funding. Fortunately, their vision aligned perfectly with ours!

Talking to nsif about why MRO made the donation, Marina said:

“In the last few years I have been following SCI research and I have realised that most research in this field is focused on finding therapies that work only on acute SCI (within a few days after injury). Unfortunately, in people living with spinal cord injury, the lesion has become ‘chronic’, which requires a different approach to achieve functional recovery.”

Like so many of our supporters, Marina is an extraordinarily active and ambitious person whose life has been impacted by spinal cord injury. She was a professional cyclist who was left paraplegic after a road accident during a training session in 2010. She has since dedicated her energies to running her organisation, which, as well as funding research, supports young cyclists who have been left with a disability after an accident.

“The goal of Marina Romoli Onlus is a biological cure, not compensatory devices such as robotic legs. For that to happen it is essential to achieve regeneration of the nerve fibres in the chronically damaged spinal cord.

“The line of research of Prof. Raisman and Dr. Tabakow, both supported by nsif, focuses on regeneration of the nerve fibers. It is applicable to chronic SCI as shown for the first time by the functional recovery achieved by Darek Fidyka, which has been scientifically documented.”

nsif wishes to extend a huge thank you to Marina Romoli Onlus, and in turn all of its supporters, for helping ensure the future of this pioneering research.

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