Spinal cord injury unproportionable occurs in young adults with devastating consequences for their physical, mental, social and professional life. It also represents a large financial burden to society and families. Most traumatic spinal cord injuries in Africa are caused by motor vehicle accidents, falls and violence but statistics on Sub-Sahara countries are sparse and seldom mentioned in worldwide reviews. Most patients with spinal cord injury are in a chronic stage, with currently no available treatment to improve their situation. We previously identified the origin of fibrotic scar tissue as a discrete subset of perivascular cells and demonstrated that a moderate reduction of fibrotic scarring improves regeneration and functional recovery after spinal cord injury. Here, I propose to identify therapeutic targets to reduce fibrotic scar tissue after spinal cord injury. The project takes advantage of state-of-the-art transcriptome techniques in unique tissues of the human spinal scar. Furthermore, I will use data from our tissue collection to determine treatment time-windows. The results will provide us with the necessary knowledge to design a therapeutic strategy to promote regeneration and functional recovery following spinal cord injury. This project presents an opportunity to improve patient life’s with spinal cord injuries in the future.