RESEARCH

NEUROMOTOR CONTROL & NEUROREHABILITATION

Knowledge about how the brain and spinal cord control human movement can be applied to improve recovery from nervous system injuries. Among the areas we study:

MOTOR LEARNING AND NEUROPLASTICITY:
Underlying neural substrates and brain mechanisms of motor learning to design and test novel non-pharmacologic interventions for motor skill acquisition
COMPUTATIONAL MOTOR CONTROL:
Computational models of motor learning and neural plasticity in healthy and lesioned brains
NEUROMECHANICS:
Interactions between muscles, sensory organs and the central nervous system to explain motion
STROKE RECOVERY AND REHABILITATION:
Integrative approaches to quantify motor dysfunction and identify factors that guide learning, recovery and rehabilitation after stroke
PELVIC FLOOR MUSCLE CONTROL AND REHABILITATION:
Basic research into how brain networks control pelvic floor muscles and how these networks become dysfunctional
MULTI-MUSCLE COORDINATION:
Interpretation of kinesiological data to create models of movement involving joints and muscle coordination
NONINVASIVE NEUROIMAGING AND NEURO-STIMULATION:
Various techniques to noninvasively image and modulate the structure or function of the nervous system
BRAIN CONNECTOMICS OF MOVEMENT CONTROL:
Brain mapping to learn the functional and structural connectivity of separate motor cortical centers involved in controlling individual muscles
MOTOR CONTROL DURING UPPER-EXTREMITY TASKS:
How the structure of the body and properties of the neuromuscular system cooperate to produce versatile function and give rise to disability
SMART TECHNOLOGIES TO PROMOTE RECOVERY:
Development of techniques and tools to quantify neuromuscular control