The clinical research involves studies of acute management of traumatic spinal cord injury, ischemic lesions and demyelinating lesions. I am a principal investigator in the Christopher Reeve Foundation program ''North American Clinical Trial Network.'' NACTN is investigating new clinical treatments for patients with spinal cord injury, and I am a member of this organization's consortium and board.

New treatment methods are being examined as part of national and international clinical trials. My studies also involve the epidemiology of sports and recreational injuries to the brain and spine, and research into the effectiveness of injury prevention programs. These are performed as part of the ThinkFirst-SportSmart Injury Prevention Program.

In the field of experimental spinal cord injury, I have developed several models of acute compression injury of the spinal cord and several quantifiable outcome measures. Various blood flow and angiographic techniques have been used to study post-traumatic ischemia.

I have examined the endogenous and transplanted stem/progenitor cells in the spinal cord. A variety of neurotrophic factors and other agents have been examined in rodent spinal cord injury.

We have studied the survival, migration and differentiation of endogenous and transplanted adult rat spinal cord ependymal region stem/progenitor cells generated in vitro from neurospheres. We have shown the effects of transplantation of these cells in the adult rodent spinal cord. We are also examining a number of bioengineering strategies involving guidance channels and drug delivery systems for axonal regeneration.

Additional Appointments

• Part of the Krembil Neuroscience Centre


• Canadian Paraplegic Association Spinal Cord Injury Research Laboratory


• McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine Member
  
• SCINET Group (CIHR)


• Section Editor, Journal of Neurotrauma

• Tator CH. Review of treatment trials in human spinal cord injury: issues, difficulties, and recommendations. Neurosurgery. 59(5):957-82; discussion 982-7, 2006.

• Mothe AJ, Kulbatski I, van Bendegem RL, Lee L, Kobayashi E, Keating A, Tator CH. Analysis of green fluorescent protein expression in transgenic rats for tracking transplanted neural stem/progenitor cells. Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry. 53(10):1215-26, 2005.

• Parr AM, Kulbatski I, Zahir T, Wang X, Yue C, Keating A, Tator CH. Transplanted adult spinal cord-derived neural stem/progenitor cells promote early functional recovery after rat spinal. Neuroscience. 26;155(3):760-70, 2008.

• Mothe AJ, Tator CH. Transplanted neural stem/progenitor cells generate myelinating oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells in spinal cord demyelination and dysmyelination. Exp Neurol. 213(1): 176-90, 2008.

• Nomura H, Baladie B, Katayama Y, Morshead CM, Shoichet MS, Tator CH. Delayed implantation of intramedullary chitosan channels containing nerve grafts promotes extensive axonal regeneration. Neurosurgery. 63(1): 127-41, 2008.

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