Prof Courtine said he was optimistic patient trials would begin in "a year or two" at Balgrist University Hospital Spinal Cord Injury Centre in Zurich.

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The lead company developing the cells as treatments, Geron, just recently started the very first trial of embryonic stem cells in humans, to treat spinal cord injury.

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"Overall I'm very optimistic and I think this is a good first step in the direction of allowing some research to move forward, " said Dr. John McDonald, director of the Spinal Cord Injury Unit at Washington University School of Medicine in St.

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This morning, Geron of Menlo Park, for years a leading company in embryonic stem cell research, announced that the first patient had been dosed in a study of its embryonic stem cell treatment for spinal cord injury.

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