New strategies for CNS injury and repair using stem cells, nanomedicine, neurotrophic factors and novel neuroprotective agents

Abstract

The 8th Annual Conference of the Global College of Neuroprotection and Neuroregeneration (GCNN) was global in the true sense of the word as it was held beyond European boundaries for the first time in the beautiful ambience of the ancient and modern environment of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on 27–30 April 2011. The meeting was organized together with the 4th International Association of Neurorestoratology (IANR; Beijing, China) and the 11th meeting of the American Society for Neural Therapy and Repair (ASNTR; FL, USA). The first joint meeting was extremely successful and attracted more than 600 delegates including top experts, research students and educators from industry, academia, research organizations, universities and medical representatives from across the globe. The focal theme of this meeting was ‘Exploring new strategies for neuroregenerative therapy for CNS injury and repair’. The Jordanian Association of Orthopedic Surgeons chaired by Ziad Al Zoubi served as the local host. HRH Princess Basma Bint Talal of Jordan inaugurated the congress. The salient new discoveries and recommendations for future strategies discussed during the meeting are summarized in this article.

Keywords::

• blood–brain barrier
• brain trauma
• cerebrolysin
• neurodegenerative diseases
• neurorepair
• neurorestoratology
• neurotrophic factors
• spinal cord injury
• stem cell therapy

Disclosure

The views expressed in this report are solely of the authors and in no way represent official positions of any granting authority or government organizations listed in the financial and competing interests disclosure.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors’ research was supported by grants from the European Office of Aerospace Research & Development (London, UK), Wright Patterson Air Force Base (Dayton, OH, USA), US FDA, National Center for Toxicological Research (Jefferson, AR, USA), Uppsala University (Sweden), Department of Biotechnology at the Ministry of Science & Technology (New Delhi, India), Medical Research Council (New Delhi, India), Swedish Medical Research Council (Stockholm, Sweden), Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Bonn, Germany), Göran Gustafsson Foundation (Stockholm, Sweden) and Astra-Zeneca (Mölndal, Sweden). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.