Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Whenever we make a movement, our limbs are responding to a precise command sent by neurons located in the motor areas of our brain. After a stroke, the pathways that normally communicate these motor commands can be damaged, resulting in movement difficulties. The goal of this proposal is to study how the brain reorganizes itself to compensate for such damage and how to enhance recovery. We hope that the information gained by this research will help us to develop effective neurorehabilitation strategies. Ongoing advances in our understanding of recovery-related brain changes raise the prospect of directly influencing brain activity to promote desired patterns of brain reorganization. This proposal aims to develop such therapies by targeting the human motor areas, regions shown to be critically involved in recovery of movement after stroke. Using a range of brain imaging and stimulation techniques, we propose to study the anatomy, physiology and functional connectivity of motor circuits in the healthy brain, to test for changes in these circuits in patients suffering from a stroke, and to assess the long-term effects of modulating the spared motor areas. Our hypothesis is that modulating activity in the motor areas based on the residual functional motor network of patients that suffered from a stoke, particularly the secondary motor areas, will increase the beneficial effects of rehabilitation in patients. In conclusion, a better understanding of how brain reorganization influences recovery will help us to develop novel therapies for patients suffering from stroke.