Grégoire Courtine: The paralyzed rat that walked

A spinal cord injury can sever the communication between your brain and your body, leading to paralysis. Fresh from his lab, Grégoire Courtine shows a new method -- combining drugs, electrical stimulation and a robot -- that could re-awaken the neural pathways and help the body learn again to move on its own. See how it works, as a paralyzed rat becomes able to run and navigate stairs.

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[ResilienceWithSaumitra]

Being Quadriplegic I can understand him quite clearly without knowing much about scientific terminologies. Thanks to him and his team.

[kbeetles]

Absolutely amazing! And what a great presentation. Thank you so much for sharing this on Youtube. I felt sorry for the rat however it is doing something huge for us, people and it seems he/she is appreciated by the whole team!!

[yudy]

The accent added so much to the ingenuity :)

[mauriciocaceres]

I personally work with Dr. Edgerton in a collaboration regarding SCI and through this relationship have been exposed constantly to Dr. Courtine's work... and can therefore attest to this approach. Regeneration has been studied for several decades with no clinically significant outcomes (statistically significant yes, but its not the same), so what do we as physicians (I am an MD/PhD student) do with those currently suffering the life of a SCI patient... wait until regeneration works? I think not! Neuroprothesis is by NO MEANS a cure, but a treatment, and this treatment will work long before regenerative studies produce their desired outcome. Regenaration is the future... Neuroprothesis is the NOW.

[alcindagamgee]

I wish I could have been there to give him a standing ovation. He seems like a wonderful person, and I hope that his research goes far.

[Kaitopia_]

I'm so touched by this. Hoping it helps people soon.

[jmclean]

That was an absolutely amazing talk... and accent.

[shekhar-kcmf]

As a spinal injury patient for the last 6 years this is a ray of hope.coming date in india

[dumbylivesevr]

Great speaker, great idea, great study, great results, great potential and I'm so looking forward to seeing this in the future

[jeantsang]

Bravo ! Continue the good work. Excellent!

[SlykeThePhoxenix]

cineck Me too, but by the looks of the rat, it didn't mind so much; and it was treated with respect and love. That's a lot more then many other lab animals are treated with.

[Klause]

thars a great way to look at the situation... not to replace, but to rebuild...

[_Eamon]

Veritasium did a video about this like a year ago. Its great to see its coming along!

[ChrisB]

a few years ago on a dark night i was lifting from the car, a young teen with CP who had never walked or stood let alone run. A military jet flew over very low and very loud. Fight or flight took over (both of us) I struggled to keep the child in my arms as his flight mechanism was so strong and so immediate. My sense of how his body responded was the mechnism was so different to his conscious attempts at trying to walk.

[squamish]

These are the days of miracle and wonder.

[wobbler]

Fantastic research. I wonder whether different diets would make significant differences. High fat Ketogenic diets are said to be very beneficial for nerve issues. Cannabinoids may also play a role in promoting nerve regrowth but I can't see that research being funded any time soon. Great work, I look forward to hearing more successes from this team.

[blakehowes]

This is truly amazing work, It could result in spinal injuries being a thing of the past.
Also I like how people get so upset about a rat but don't care when they hear thousands of people have died. 

[Tubleros]

Im pretty sure we all know he this man isnt the only one who works with this project.

[shanara]

Well, it follows that, once the spinal cord is repaired, the patient would be free to walk. Rats, however, don't normally walk in 2 legs, which is why the robot was still required for the rat.

[mylaiza]

Cut to 5 years later and they helped humans walk.