Our laboratory’s research interests broadly include brain stimulation, motor control, neuroimaging, clinical neuroscience and rehabilitation. We have, thus far, focused on utilizing functional neuroimaging to discern substrates of movement control and movement relearning-related plasticity in the healthy vs. post-stroke brain to draw upon their significance for rehabilitation. Furthermore, using noninvasive brain stimulation, including transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), we have explored ways to harness plasticity within implicated substrates to promote recovery in stoke.

Currently, we have expanded our research portfolio to include:

• Understanding of normal aging- and disease-related neurodegenerative markers, particularly those affecting motor networks of the brain associated with movement dysfunction, using TMS
• Modifying activity of motor networks to “stall” or alleviate neurodegenerative effects, in turn improving movement control with rehabilitation and training
• Investigating whether neural substrates associated with training and rehabilitation can be modified adaptively using neuromodulation to supplement therapeutic benefit

We are addressing these themes across federally funded clinical trials, as well as projects sponsored by the Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative of Cleveland and by industry. Specifically, studies in the laboratory include investigating neural substrates of neuromodulatory rehabilitation in motor recovery and sensory re-education after stroke, neuromodulation to re-establish memory in paralyzed muscles in spinal cord injury, aging- and training-related neural markers of strength in the elderly, and neurodegenerative markers of chemotherapy-induced fatigue in cancer.

In other words ...

Whether recovering from injury or in disease states, the brain's potential to change for the better or the worse – its “plasticity” – creates windows of opportunity to improve neurological outcomes.  In our research, we show that rehabilitation, movement re-learning, and noninvasive brain stimulation are simple tools that investigators and clinicians can use to harness the brain's potential for positive change.