Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

The ability to see the structure and function of the spinal cord immediately following a spinal cord injury would provide essential information for thorough and accurate assessment of a person's condition and to guide therapeutic efforts. Currently, this information is not available to doctors, and assessments are based largely on what the patient can report about their condition. Special imaging techniques based on MRI, such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have been used to assess the integrity of axons within the spinal cord, and spinal cord neuronal function, respectively. These methods have the potential to dramatically change how spinal cord injuries are treated in hospitals. The current study includes the use of multiple MR imaging techniques (DTI and fMRI) and aims to provide novel information regarding spinal cord anatomy and function in both healthy and injured people. Furthermore, we will determine whether the measures obtained from DTI can be used to predict functional outcomes. Results from this study will be used to create a clinical assessment tool with the aim of providing greater insight to both doctors and patients in order to guide rehabilitation efforts, provide monitoring of treatment progress, and better outcome measures for clinical trials of new treatments.