Research
Research in the department is organized into research centers, initiatives and areas of interest. Research centers and initiatives are comprised of faculty and trainees whose collaborative research forms a multidisciplinary community. Centers are highly inclusive and faculty and trainees are often affiliated with more than one center. There is also a great deal of interaction and collaboration among the different centers.
The Marion Murray Spinal Cord Research Center (MMSCRC) is engaged in an innovative and multidisciplinary program for studying spinal circuit function, elucidating the pathophysiology of spinal cord injury, and developing therapeutic strategies including transplantation, drug therapy, physical rehabilitation, functional electrical stimulation, and robotics. These studies include cutting-edge techniques of contemporary neuroscience and neuroengineering.
The Center for Systems and Behavioral Neuroscience is dedicated to investigating the molecular, cellular, network and behavioral mechanisms underlying sensory information processing, learning and memory, attention, emotion, locomotion, feeding, and motivation, as well as neuropsychiatric disorders associated with these processes.
The Center for Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience seeks to understand basic cellular processes relevant to nervous system development and maintenance, with the aim of stimulating the development of new clinical strategies for treating neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disease as well as promoting regeneration of the injured nervous system.
The Center for Computational Neuroscience uses neural network models to investigate the neural processes that govern locomotion, breathing, sensorimotor integration, spinal circuit function, and rhythm generation, and how spinal cord injury disrupts these processes.
The Neuroengineering Initiative emphasizes use of engineering methods to quantitatively analyze central nervous system function and create new therapies for diseases and injuries of the brain and spinal cord.
The Bone Biology Laboratory investigates bone quality, structure and adaptation during growth, aging and disease.
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