Two new PhD scholarships funded

Two members of the Spark Lab team – Bruna Cruz and José Gabriel Figueiredo - have been granted a scholarship from the ‘2023 Call for PhD Studentships’ funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).

Bruna’s workplan focuses on the characterization of new candidate neuroregenerative targets for the treatment of spinal cord injuries (SCIs). Leveraging the promising results from our previous FCT-funded GoBack project, the goal is to identify early-regulated genes able to trigger robust neuroregenerative programs and assess their potential for clinical translation. Bruna’s PhD research work will be mainly conducted at the Institute of Biomedicine (iBiMED) of the University of Aveiro, supervised by Dr. Sandra Vieira (Spark Lab’s PI) and co-supervised by Dr. Frank Bosse from Heinrich-Heine University (Dusseldorf, Germany) and Dr. Stephane Belin from the Grenoble Institute of Neurosciences (GIN, France). Ref: 2023.03623.BD

José Gabriel’s thesis will address the characterization of brain information transfer dynamics and neurorehabilitation effects of a brain-machine interface (BMI) intervention in SCI patients. It is intended to monitor the cortical activity of healthy and SCI participants subjected to a BMI protocol - consisting on the control of an avatar through motor imagery in an immersive virtual reality environment - and assess the eventual occurrence of neuroplasticity, relating these measurements with SCI-related markers and clinical evolution. This work will be jointly supervised by Dr. Miguel Santos Pais Vieira (iBiMED, University of Aveiro) and Dr. Sandra Vieira. Ref: 2023.02051.BD

Congratulations, Bruna and José Gabriel!

Workshops of the 3rd Meeting of SCI Portuguese Researchers

The second day of the 3rd Meeting of SCI Portuguese Researchers, organized by our research group, comprised 2 parallel workshops on Non-pharmacological therapies for Neurorehabilitation:

• Workshop 1, directed to PhD students, comprised dynamic talks by Dr. Mónica Perez on the ‘Trends in Electromagnetic stimulation for SCI neurorehabilitation’ and Dr. Ceren Yarar-Fisher on the ‘Trends in Microbiome and Nutrition for SCI care'.

• Workshop 2, targeting healthcare professionals, was sponsored by Mobilitec and iACESS and focused on the ‘Technological innovation in the prescription of support products: a way to improve the functionality of people with SCI'.

The full programme can be consulted here: https://sciptresearchers.wixsite.com/3rd-meeting/program

We want to thank to all the speakers, sponsors and attendees for the valuable contributions to these satellite events!

3rd Meeting of SCI Portuguese Researchers

On June 22nd and 23rd, the 3rd International Meeting of Portuguese Researchers on Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) took place at the Centro de Reabilitação do Norte (CRN, CHVNG/E). Organized annually by the growing community of national SCI researchers, this event intends to highlight the cutting-edge work in the field, gathering the Portuguese SCI experts and inviting internationally renowned speakers.

This year's meeting was a collaborative effort between the Institute of Biomedicine (iBiMED) and the SCI Rehabilitation Unit of CRN. The Organizing Committee was led by our Principal Investigator, Sandra Vieira, and PhD student Maria Ribeiro da Cunha, a physiatrist and coordinator of the CRN SCI Rehabilitation Unit. Supporting the organization were PhD students from our lab — Bárbara Sousa, Bruna Cruz, and José Gabriel Figueiredo — along with CRN physiatrists Dr. Fátima Gandarez and Dr. Margarida Rodrigues.

The event featured a variety of activities, including oral presentations by international keynote speakers and iBiMED researchers, flash talks by PhD students, poster sessions, a guided tour through the CRN facilities, and two specialized workshops.

Keynote speaker Dr. Ceren Yarar-Fisher, Vice Chair of Research at Ohio State University and Director of Clinical Research at the Belford Center for SCI, delivered a talk titled 'A Rebel’s Approach to Change Spinal Cord Injury Care', highlighting her team's research on the impact of nutrition and the microbiome on SCI recovery.

Dr. Monica A. Perez from the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab at Northwestern University, Chicago, discussed innovative rehabilitation strategies, such as electrical stimulation, in her talk 'Neural Control of Movement after Spinal Cord Injury'.

Internal speakers included Sandra Vieira and Miguel Pais-Vieira, who presented their work on SCI rehabilitation through their talks 'Neural Activity during a 14-Month Brain-Computer Interface Protocol for SCI Rehabilitation' and 'Cell Therapies for Spinal Cord Injury: A Review of Clinical Trials and Therapeutic Potential', respectively.

To conclude the event, enologist and person with SCI lived experience, Bento Amaral shared his 'HumanWinety Project', followed by a Portuguese wine tasting and a jazz performance by a band from the University of Aveiro’s Department of Communication and Art.

Here are some of the best moments from our meeting:

It was a true pleasure to organize such an important event for the advancement of national SCI research, and we are deeply grateful to all the attendees for their participation and contributions, which helped make this gathering a success!

You can find furhter information about the 3rd Meeting of SCI Portuguese Researchers in the oficial site: https://sciptresearchers.wixsite.com/3rd-meeting