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As a boy, Dr. Reggie Edgerton was touched by disability. He himself had polio when he was a child, and till this day his left hand is slightly smaller. Going through this experience had a profound effect on Dr. Edgerton, and no doubt is one of the reasons he’s been obsessed with understanding how neural networks work in the spinal cord control movement for nearly 40 years.
And the best part, he has more hope for SCI research than ever before. With his research program funded by both the Christopher and Dana Reeve foundation and the NIH (the National Institutes of Health) his research team has made groundbreaking discoveries in the realm of electrical stimulation of the spinal cord.
To learn how this North Carolina boy ended up making miracles come true in a research facility in California, read on for the passionate story of this talented spinal cord injury researcher.
Why He’s Fearless
Dr. Edgerton has been in the game for a long time. He received his first degree from East Carolina University, and next headed to Michigan State University to receive his PhD in Exercise Physiology. A former swim coach, researching how the spinal cord works was never his original career goal.
After graduation, he became a professor of kinesiology at UCLA, a job he thoroughly enjoyed but while on sabbatical in Sweden, he met famed neurophysicist Sten Grillner (who was studying the locomotion of cats who had their spinal cord severed at birth) he enthralled. Meeting Grillner had a profound effect on Edgerton. He saw that the cats, when placed on a moving treadmill and given a dose of medicine called L-Dopa, could walk.
Even though Grillner was never able to replicate these results in humans, Edgerton was so inspired that he went back to UCLA to study the very same thing. It took decades, but Dr. Edgerton is finally saw results in humans after many years of dedication. Amassing research money has not been easy for Edgerton since many believed his theories regarding the spinal cord were hogwash, but he never let that stop him.
In 2011, along with another noted SCI researcher (and one of our previous SCI Superstars), Dr. Susan Harkema, he finally saw some of the first a real evidence they were on the right track – they were able to help Rob Summers, a man who had been paralyzed for 6 years prior, to stand on his own again.
He and his team implanted a device inside of him that read his brain signals, and sent them to his muscles using simulators. For anyone who’s been paralyzed from several years, just the possibility of being able to do this again is huge, and they are helping people stand again, as well as feel more of their bodies, including getting some sexual function back.
What’s Next?
Dr. Edgerton’s research is more active than ever. He has a research facility at UCLA, the Edgerton Lab, where he and other researchers work together. He’s on the official board for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation as well.
One of the biggest breakthroughs in SCI research yet has been the “Big Idea,” as dubbed by the Reeve Foundation, and we can thank Dr. Edgerton for bringing it to the US.
ideas@spinalpedia.com
