When neuroscientist John Steeves was awarded the first BC Leadership Chair back in 2002, there were 15 UBC faculty members working with him in his ICORD spinal cord injury research group (which he’d set up in 1995). ICORD -- International Collaboration On Repair Discoveries -- has since grown to 55 principal investigators and some 300 researchers, not just at UBC, but also across Canada and around the world. In 2002, it had $2 million in endowment capital, and by 2006, it has nearly $20 million. ICORD, in fact, has become the largest spinal cord injury research centre in the world. It was the BC Leadership Chair that empowered it to move forward so successfully in the past four years.

ICORD, with members across Canada and beyond, now spans an impressive research continuum. “Projects range from molecular genetics through pre-clinical experiments,” explains Dr. Steeves, “and from acute clinical care and long-term clinical care to rehabilitation, re-integration of patients into the community and the design of accessible communities.” Regionally, ICORD is both multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional, bringing together researchers from UBC, Vancouver Coastal Health, SFU, UVic, UNBC and BCIT. Many of these researchers will be housed in the new ICORD building now being built near Vancouver General Hospital. When completed in 2008 it will be among the world’s most “accessible” buildings.

The Leading Edge Endowment Fund’s initial contribution to the Chair of $2.25 million was matched by the Rick Hanson Man In Motion Foundation (www.rickhansen.com). It then received an additional $1.5 million from businessman John Ryan and his wife Penny to create a $6 million endowment.

Dr. Steeves studied at the University of Manitoba medical school, which has both an MD and a PhD program. At the end of his first year there, he chose the research-oriented PhD route and received his doctorate in neuroscience/physiology in 1978. “I studied the mechanisms of the injured spinal cord, investigating what caused the damage and how the effect radiates outward after the initial injury,” he recalls. “Ever since then I have focused on experimental therapies to promote repair.  

Now, years later, with the support of ICORD and the BC Leadership Chair, his efforts also involve the clinical side – the conduct of clinical trials. “There are places in the world where people are promised treatment that will repair spinal cord injuries,” he notes. “Unfortunately none of these ‘miracle’ treatments has been validated by proper clinical trials. So I’m working with several of the world’s experts to develop appropriate clinical trial guidelines.” He’s also writing a question-and-answer document for people with spinal cord injuries and their families, one that will enable everyone to make better informed decisions about the “quick fix” cures they will inevitably hear about.

Is there a “quick fix” for spinal cord repair on the horizon? What about stem cells, for example?

Dr. Steeves has some strong views on the hype that often overtakes biological fact. “Over half of human genetic material is directed toward brain and spinal cord development,” he explains. “It takes an enormous number of genes working together to build our highly complex nervous system and we do not yet understand how they interact. The idea that one can repair the spinal cord with a single treatment is absurd. The challenge would be like spreading out every nut, bolt, screw, wire, and other fragment of an automobile; then having you try to assemble them into a car without an instruction manual. Plus, different spinal cord injuries will require modified treatment approaches.”

“Stem cells are a long way from becoming treatment,” he cautions. “We don’t understand their basic biology. We don’t know which stem-cell type would be best for spinal cord repair. We don’t know how to control their migration (once they’re introduced), nor do we know how to control their survival or proliferation.

“That said, the BC Leadership Chairs give us an opportunity to lead in new directions, to do things other researchers can’t do because of limited time or resources. The key word is ‘lead.’ While consensus-building is important, we also need to have ‘vision,’ to stretch ourselves into something we’d like to become.”

For further information on the work of Dr. Steeves and his colleagues, visit www.icord.org .