Unite 2 Fight Paralysis exists to unite and empower the international spinal cord injury community to cure paralysis through advocacy, education, and support for research. Get Educated and Get Involved.
Today we are speaking with Dr. Damiano Barone. Damiano is a researcher and neurosurgeon at Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston. We discuss a recently published Nature Communications paper studying a novel spinal cord stimulation device. The device takes a new approach, having a section which wraps around the spinal cord, able to send stimulation and detect responses in the cord. This is in contrast to current epidural stimulators which stimulate only the dorsal section of the cord.
The work is early, but with the data gained in the study we could be seeing some significant changes in spinal stimulation from this device, namely, the ability to bypass the injury site all together. I’m excited about this development and its potential for functional recovery. You don’t wanna miss this one - let’s get to it.
11 Sept 2026
Stim Tuneup
Today we’re talking with Megan Gill and Ryan Solinsky, both researchers at the renowned Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. We discuss a common problem in spinal cord injury neuromodulation work: abandoned technology, or the lack of support that comes after receiving a neuromodulating device like an epidural stimulator.
The Mayo Clinic aims to address this gap in care and Megan and Ryan discuss how this new clinical offering will work. Additionally, they talk about two new spinal cord injury clinical studies that are being conducted by the Mayo. One is in the identification of pain bio markers. The other explorers electrical stimulation for lower motor neuron or peripheral nervous system deficits. Both of those trials are recruiting and the device support service is up and running. For information on any of these things, check out the links in the show notes below.
More info: https://u2fp.org/get-educated/curecast/episode-148.html
28 Aug 2026
First Psilocybin/SCI Study (CureCast Episode 147)
Today's episode features Dr. Jill Wecht who is a Research Health Scientist at the Bronx VA and Devon Colbert, a retired firefighter and Navy Veteran who lives with a cervical spinal cord injury (SCI) and is an advocate/participant in SCI research. A while back, Devon proposed the idea for a clinical trial using psilocybin to Dr. Wecht and her colleague Dr. Noam Harel at the Bronx VA.
When we heard that they were moving forward with potentially the first psilocybin trial in spinal cord injury (a safety trial), we reached out to schedule this interview. They are curious about the effect of psilocybin on mental health, but will also be collecting information about its effect on other functions. The hope is that it might have pro-regenerative effects that can warrant further investigation.
We talk with them about the trial and the potential that psilocybin might hold as a treatment, both on its own and in combination with other interventions going forward. We learned a lot from the conversation and are excited to share it with you.
Who has been a guest on U2FP CureCast
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Dr Nathan Makowski
Dr Michael Fehlings
Adrien Cohen
Mason Branstrator
Dr Evan Joiner
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
12 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
8 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 55 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
75
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
85
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