Professor John Haycock takes an in-depth look at the problem of repairing peripheral nerve damage. Approximately 1 in 1000 people suffers serious nerve injuries due to road traffic or DIY accidents each year. Repairing this nerve damage surgically can be difficult as clean cuts are rare. The specialist team at Sheffield is overcoming this problem through the creation of new polymer scaffolds which guide new nerve growth, assist repair and provide an ‘off the shelf’ solution for surgeons.