Medical researchers have issued the first message of hope for persons suffering from spinal cord injuries.

At the weekend close of the International Spinal Research Trust's triennial conference -- held at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research -- 35 specialists from Europe, the US, and Canada declared "tremendous progress'' has been made in regenerating neural growth across severed spinal cords.

"The days of thinking that spinal cord injuries are irreparable are gone,'' said the UK-based Trust's Research Director Peter Banyard.

In the last three years, he said, separate teams of researchers based in Sweden, Switzerland, and Miami, have reported independant and unprecedented progress in identifying the physiological keys which promote or prohibit nerve fibre regeneration.

Mr. Banyard cautioned however that the progress is not a breakthrough.

Advances are coming only in gradual steps.

Still, three researchers associated with the work say optimism was the buzzword of the conference: "This is a very rich time. We're finally seeing some results,'' Dr. Mary Bartlett Bunge of the University of Miami's School of Medicine told The Royal Gazette .

Associated with the Miami project, Dr. Bartlett Bunge's group has been studying why peripheral nerves -- which contain a set of cells called "Schwann cells'' -- are able to regenerate while those (without Schwann cells) in the spinal cord do not.

By introducing Schwann cells into the central nervous system, the Miami team discovered they promoted regeneration across a damaged spinal gap.

European research has identified the molecular elements that influence regeneration, and observed how transplanted neural tissue regrows and targets receptor sites across spinal gaps.

"The excitement comes from the proof of principle that regeneration can occur,'' Dr. Marc Tessier-Lavigne of the University of California, San Francisco, said. "We have identified some of the molecular stimulators and inhibitors associated with the process so now the next step is to learn how to manipulate them.'' Dr. Ray Lund of London's Institute of Opthamology added the discoveries will help doctors provide early intervention in containing spinal cord damage; "substantial progress'' has already been made under laboratory conditions.

The next step he added, will be to systematically package care for use in patients.