Australia-based Griffith University’s world-first study into cell transplantation to repair injuries to the nervous system has received a major boost owing to a $5.4 million funding extension from the Motor Accident Insurance Commission (MAIC).

Griffith’s Clem Jones Centre for Neurobiology and Stem Cell Research, headed by Professor James St John, is developing cell transplantation therapies to treat injuries of the nervous system.

The research team has created a world-first cellular nerve bridge technology which has already received two major national awards, the NHMRC Marshall and Warren Innovation Award 2019 and the Research Australia Discovery Award 2020-2021.

This latest round of funding will allow the research team to expand the nerve bridge technology to a wider range of nervous system injuries including peripheral nerve and brain injuries.

The new MAIC funding of $5.4 million brings the total MAIC investment into the therapy development to more than $16 million since 2017, with the major focus of the research being to develop a therapy for spinal cord injury.