The paper, Critical role of acrolein in secondary injury following ex vivo spinal cord trauma, was written by Purdue professors Hamann, Durkes, Ouyang, Uchida, Pond and Shi. It examines the process that causes the formation of acrolein after a spinal cord injury and how it contributes to secondary injuries, making it a novel target to promote improved recovery.  The paper was selected for this honor by Professor Philip Burcham, an expert on the chemistry of acrolein at the University of Western Australia.  His comments on the paper include: 

"This groundbreaking paper strengthens the case that a very nasty chemical long known to toxicologists, acrolein, plays a key pathogenetic

role in the neurodegeneration that follows traumatic injury to the spinal cord. ...  The findings highlight how

basic mechanistic studies in toxicology can bring great new insights to longstanding medical mysteries".

Congratulations to the authors on having their paper selected!