Successful completion of our Wyss Zurich project CeNeReg

An interview with? Bettina Steiner , Project Leader of our Wyss Zurich project CeNeReg. CeNeReg was being accelerated at?Wyss Zurich?from February 2016 to December 2022.

What is the vision of CeNeReg?

Many years of neurobiological research at the University of Zurich and 瑞士苏黎世联邦理工学院 have shown that nerve fibers in the injured spinal cord of rats or mice can regrow and that lost functions can recover under the influence of a specific antibody treatment. The CeNeReg project enabled a European network of #spinalcordinjury centers to test this antibody in spinal cord injured patients. The results will come out in summer 2023; we hope that they will lead the way to new therapies for better recovery of #patients with spinal cord and brain injuries.

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What is your personal motivation for this project?

I know someone who became #tetraplegic at early age due to a snowboarding accident.?I was touched by how even the smallest everyday tasks require huge efforts and time for a person with such a severe handicap like highly limited arm and hand functions. I was thrilled to contribute to the development of a novel therapy that, if successful, could provide a great improvement in the quality of life for such patients.

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You have spent three years at Wyss Zurich. What kinds of support have you found to be most valuable?

In addition to the very important financial resources for our project, I profited enormously – for the project and personally – from the diverse and highly competent knowledge and expertise in the different domains of drug production, testing, quality control and regulations present within Wyss Zurich.

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What advice would you give yourself if you could travel back three years in time?

A problem is not a problem if it is discovered early enough. For me, doing proper risk management and finding solutions with experts was a crucial success factor.

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Are you a hustler, hipster, or hacker?

Hard to say, I think it always depends on the situation.

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In just a few words, what is your wish for the future?

Before I talk about the future, I would like to thank all previous team members, project leaders and Wyss Zurich for their great support and collaboration. I would like to highlight that this project is based on over 30 years of research by Prof. Martin Schwab on #Nogo-A inhibition, and he continues our vision in the start-up company NovaGo Therapeutics .

I hope that the results of the CeNeReg supported clinical trial will show that functional recovery after spinal cord injuries can be significantly improved with anti-Nogo-A #antibodies and that we can give new hope to paraplegic patients.

Learn more about CeNeReg:

CeNeReg - Wyss Zurich