A Potential Cure for Paralysis: The First Human Spinal Cord Repair using The Patient Own Cells The surgery is expected to soon take place in Israel, in which a personalized engineered human spinal cord will be implanted in a paralyzed patient, with the goal of enabling the patient to rise from a wheelchair and walk again. Behind this medical advance stands Prof. Tal Dvir, Head of the Sagol Center for Regenerative Biotechnology, Head of the Nanotechnology Center at Tel Aviv University, and Chief Scientist of the biotech company Matricelf.