Using Neural Engineering Approaches for Stroke Rehabilitation
Monday, April 9, 2018
12:00 PM-1:30 PM
BIOMED Special Seminar
Title:
Using Neural Engineering Approaches for Stroke Rehabilitation
Speaker:
Tanuj Gulati, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Neurology
University of California - San Francisco (UCSF), and
San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center (SFVAMC)
Center for Neural Engineering and Prosthesis
UCSF and UC-Berkeley
Abstract:
Stroke is the leading cause of motor disability in the United States. My research aims to develop medical systems that can augment/ restore functional recovery in movement disabilities, such as stroke. For this, it is important to understand how the brain generates movement and learns new motor skills. I am using neuroprosthetic (or brain-machine interface) and reach-to-grasp tasks in rodents to better understand the motor skill consolidation process in the intact and stroke-injured brain.
I am interested in both ‘online’ (i.e., during task practice) and ‘offline’ (i.e. during sleep) processes that contribute to skill learning. I will present my recent work that demonstrates the "offline" processes (e.g., sleep) that occur in motor networks that contribute to neuroprosthetic and motor skill consolidation, and how they can serve as neuromodulatory targets for rehabilitation. I am also interested in "online" (e.g., during task practice) processes associated with skill consolidation, and will present another line of related research that builds on this and uses neural engineering strategies that are aimed at restoring motor function after stroke.
Biosketch:
Tanuj Gulati, PhD, is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Neurology, University of California – San Francisco and San Francisco VA Medical Center. He earned his PhD in Neuroscience (Neuroengineering track) from Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia in 2012, and a MS in Neuroscience from National Brain Research Center, India (in 2006). His doctoral research investigated spinal motor systems in frogs with a special emphasis on analyzing the spinal 'modularity' and how it simplifies nervous system computation and control of movement.
Dr. Gulati's postdoctoral work involves investigating cortical basis of motor skill learning in the intact and stroke injured rodent brain. His neuroengineering research involves using brain-machine interfaces and electric stimulation that can assist/ recover motor function in individuals that have motor disability post-stroke. His work is funded by the American Heart/ Stroke Association, and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Contact Information
Ken Barbee
215-895-1335
barbee@drexel.edu