Rajiv Ratan, M.D., Ph.D
Director, Burke/Cornell Medical Research Institute
Burke Professor of Neurology, Neuroscience and Rehab Medicine, Weill Medical College of Cornell University                                             
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Neurological diseases such as stroke, spinal cord injury, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, are the leading cause of disability in the United States. While traditional rehabilitation approaches such as physical therapy and occupational therapy have done much to reduce disability and handicap in individuals afflicted with these diseases, more progress is desperately needed.

My lab is working to develop new pharmacological strategies for preventing or ameliorating disability from nervous system conditions. Our central hypothesis is that the death of neurons or neuron progenitors, following a stroke or spinal cord injury, will adversely influence recovery from these diseases. Our efforts are focused on identifying novel strategies to combat cell death in the central nervous system. Neuronal death from stroke or spinal cord injury is caused, in part, by the unopposed action of highly reactive molecules called free radicals. Free radicals are constantly formed in our body and under normal conditions they are quickly neutralized. However, when a person has a stroke or spinal cord injury, the combination of overproduction of these radicals and diminished defenses may damage neurons and other cells in the central nervous system.

We are developing “drugs” to augment the body’s natural defenses to free radicals. These drugs are candidate therapies for stroke and spinal cord injury prevention and recovery. We postulate that drugs that supplement the body’s natural defense mechanisms to stroke and spinal cord injury will be more effective and less toxic than those that don’t. Several novel candidates have been identified. Preclinical testing of these compounds in rodent models of stroke and spinal cord injury show promising results. We hope to begin clinical trials of these new therapies in humans afflicted with these diseases