Unless the spinal cord can be grown inside the patient’s spinal column I don’t see the point. And unless the new spinal cord can attach to the existing branching nerves what is the good. I can’t imagine a surgeon opening up an entire spinal column to implant an entire spinal cord in a patient’s existing vertebra.
It will also be a neat trick to establish a blood supply to the new spinal cord.
As pure research it is a fantastic accomplishment but there is I suspect decades of more research to go before it is practical.
I think the object here is to figure out how to help the body stimulate new growth so that the body regenerates new tissue and heals on its own.
There will be a 3-D printed human heart before Mr. Obama leaves office and there is already a liver. Never say never.