breakthrough that could earn a Nobel prize.

The breakthrough -- a treatment for people paralysed by spinal injuries -- could come by the end of the century.

It is the hot topic at a conference at the Biological Station that ends today.

About 35 scientists from the US, UK, Israel, Germany, Switzerland and Australia are present.

They are discussing the chance that people paralysed in accidents and now using wheelchairs might soon be able to walk again.

The breakthrough would be a medical advance on the scale of the discovery of penicillin or anaesthetics, said conference organiser Mr. Ian Walden, of the International Spinal Research Trust.

People benefiting from the new treatment would respond differently, he said.

But for someone who was paralysed, any improvement would be welcomed.

"We will actually have people walking and restored almost to complete health,'' he predicted.

Mr. Walden is director of the trust, a British charity that funds scientific research into spinal injuries.

The conference is the first of its kind to be held at the Bio Station.

It examined recent research funded by the trust which showed that damaged nerve fibres in the back or neck can regenerate -- something not known before.

Bermuda, the site of a similar conference several years ago, is favoured by the trust as a convenient location for international scientists.

"It's a really lovely place to attract really busy people out of their labs,'' Mr. Walden said.