Northwestern University researchers led by Professor Samuel Stupp have built the most advanced human spinal cord model ever created — a miniature organoid grown from stem cells that includes actual neurons, astrocytes, and for the first time, microglia (the immune cells of the central nervous system). They then injured it two different ways — cutting with a scalpel and compressing it — and watched it respond exactly like a real human spinal cord injury: cell death, inflammation, and the formation of a glial scar, the dense wall of tissue that blocks nerve regrowth and makes spinal cord injuries permanent.
Then came the breakthrough. They treated the injured organoids with “dancing molecules” — a therapy Stupp’s lab invented in 2021. These are injectable nanofibers that mimic the scaffolding around spinal cord cells, with molecules engineered to constantly vibrate and move. The motion dramatically increases contact with cell receptors, delivering growth signals and anti-inflammatory signals simultaneously. The results were striking: significant neurite outgrowth as damaged nerves reached out to reconnect, and the glial scar — the biggest barrier to spinal cord healing — became “barely detectable.”
This mirrors what the team saw in their landmark 2021 animal study, where a single injection of dancing molecules given to paralyzed mice 24 hours after injury had them walking again within four weeks. The organoid results give researchers confidence the therapy could translate to humans — short of a clinical trial, testing in human tissue is the strongest validation available. The therapy has already received FDA Orphan Drug Designation, which accelerates the path to market.
For the roughly 300,000 Americans and millions worldwide living with spinal cord injuries, this represents something genuinely new. Current treatment is limited to surgical stabilization, steroids, and rehabilitation — nothing on the market today can regenerate severed spinal cord nerves. A single biodegradable injection that dissolves scar tissue and promotes nerve regrowth would be the first therapy to address the root problem rather than just managing symptoms. The paper was published February 11th, 2026, in Nature Biomedical Engineering, and clinical trials could begin within the next few years.