Project Overview

The International Spinal Cord Injury Biobank (ISCIB) is a multi-user biorepository with the mission of accelerating therapeutic development in traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) through improved biological understanding of human injury, and the vision of serving as a global research resource where human SCI biospecimens are shared with researchers around the world. The biobank consists of cerebrospinal fluid and blood samples from individuals who have suffered a SCI as well as spinal cords of individuals who passed away after suffering an acute SCI. With the support of Brain Canada, ISCIB aims to expand its collection of spinal cords into the chronic SCI timeframe, allowing the platform to continue enhancing the capacity of translational research in SCI at a global level.   

Principal Investigator

Brian Kwon , University of British Columbia

Team Members

Cornelia Laule, University of British Columbia

Veronica Hirsch-Reinshagen, University of British Columbia

Wolfram Tetzlaff, University of British Columbia

Cheryl Wellington, University of British Columbia

James Guest, University of Miami

Michael Beattie, University of California San Fransisco

Jan Schwab, Ohio State University

Ona Bloom, Northwell Health

Norbert Weidner, Heidelberg University

Jean-Marc Mac-Thiong, Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal, Université de Montréal

Sean Christie, QEII Health Sciences Centre, Dalhousie University

Elizabeth Bradbury, King’s College London

Partners and Donors

Praxis Spinal Cord Institute

Rick Hansen Foundation

VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation