The researchers have shown how to make nerve and muscle cells grow in a single, aligned direction.

The breakthrough is the result of research at the university's Intelligent Polymer Research Institute in conjunction with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science.

It has the markings of the biggest "Eureka" moment in the research group's 20-year history.

"To be successful in these areas would definitely be seen as the most significant and challenging breakthrough in 20 years," director of IPRI and executive director of ACES, Professor Gordon Wallace said.

"This would be revolutionary."

The method uses polymer technology to set down "tram tracks" to act like scaffolding for neurites - the developing arms of neurons.

While neurites have been grown in the past, discovering how to control the direction of that growth was a "a giant step" towards aiding people with spinal injuries, Prof Wallace said.

"You want to get as many neurites as possible, but then you actually want to interconnect them with something," he said.

"These findings ... have significant implications for the realisation of conduits for nerve and muscle repair."

The discovery was made in collaboration with the institutes' collaborating chief investigator Graeme Clark, who is best known for inventing the bionic ear.

Prof Clark was keen to begin human trials within five to 10 years, Prof Wallace said.

"It would be a number of years before any type of device was readily available."

The findings are to appear in prestigious scientific journals, including Advanced Materials, considered top in the field.

At the university's Innovation Campus yesterday, Prof Wallace demonstrated some of the home-grown technology being used to make the advances, including a bio printer - a prototype modelled on an ink-jet printer that dispenses dots of liquid to form a 3D structure made up of multiple links.

There is also a wet spinning device, which crafts great strings of polymer with a diameter finer than a human hair.

The strings can be bundled together in a thicker rope capable of acting as a conduit.

Researchers hope the rope will one day be implanted into the spines of suitable candidates, reinstating their ability to walk.