Abstract
As we age, our spinal circuits to and from muscles change: the hands of elderly people can show tremor; their grip or balance is altered and they are more at risk of slips and falls.
The LIDo PhD student will combine Engineering with Neurobiology to study and modify neural changes during healthy ageing. She/he will invent new mechanical and optogenetic technologies to be used in rodents or humans to control neural circuits to and from muscles involved in reaching and grasping.
References
(1) Thuret, S., Moon, L.D.F. and Gage, F.H. (2006) Therapeutic interventions after spinal cord injury. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 7: 628-643.
(2) Loureiro, R.C.V., Harwin,W.S., Lamperd,R., and Collin,C.(2013). Evaluation of Reach and Grasp Robot-Assisted Therapy Suggests Similar Functional Recovery Patterns on Proximal and Distal Arm Segments in Sub-acute Hemiplegia. IEEE Trans. Neural Syst. Rehabil. Eng. 22(3), 593-602.
(3) Kathe, C., Hutson, T.H., McMahon, S.B. and Moon, L.D.F. (2016) Intramuscular Neurotrophin-3 normalizes low threshold spinal reflexes, reduces spasms and improves mobility after bilateral corticospinal tract injury in rats. eLife 5: e18146.
(4) Loureiro, R.C.V., Belda-Lois, J.M., Rocon E., Pons, J.L., Normie, L. and Harwin, W.S. (2006) Upper Limb Tremor Suppression Through Viscous Loading: Design, Implementation and Clinical Validation. International Journal of Assistive Robotics and Mechatronics, 7(2), 11-18.
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