Dr. Mousumi Ghosh is a Research Associate Professor at the University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine, and has a dual appointment as a Research Health Scientist at the Bruce W. Carter Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Miami, Fl. Dr. Ghosh graduated from the University of Calcutta, India, with a Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1997. Dr Ghosh’s primary research interest includes altering glial cell reactivity and cell-to-cell interactions in response to CNS injury or disease and to identify novel pharmacological and molecular approaches to promote neuroprotection and repair in these neurological conditions. She has investigated (1) the surface modification of Schwann cells to enhance their capacity for migration and axon regeneration following transplantation within the injured spinal cord; (2) microglia phenotypic conversion to alter their inflammatory to reparative properties; and (3) the manipulation of intracellular signaling pathways in astrocytes to abrogate their reactivity and production of axon growth inhibitory matrix molecules, including chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans. Her research in spinal cord injury repair was recognized by The Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation and The American Spinal Injury Association through The Outstanding Young Investigator Award given to her in 2009. Dr. Ghosh’s current research includes identifying the therapeutic potential of glia-derived exosomes for the repair of the injured spinal cord.

Dr. Damien D. Pearse is a Professor at the Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine as well as holds a dual appointment as a Research Health Scientist at the Bruce W. Carter Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Miami, Florida. His research interests are repairing the injured nervous system with cell-based approaches which include both, the use of cell therapy as well as cell-derived exosomal vesicles, and modulators of protein modification pathways, neurodegenerative diseases, neuroplasticity, neuroprotection, neuroregeneration, and pain. The overall goal of his laboratory is to identify and/or develop effective combinatory strategies that target all of these deficiencies so as to establish an efficacious treatment regimen for clinical implementation in human spinal cord injury and diseases. It is also his aim to find strategies that are amenable to the acute and/or chronic phases of SCI and that are not associated with adverse effects that would negate the benefits of such therapies clinically (development of pain, tumor formation etc.). In addition, he is a member of the American Society for Neural Transplantation and Repair (ASNTR) and the International Society of Neuroimmunology (ISNI).