Projects

The Neuromuscular Research Laboratory is focused on understanding how the nervous system controls movement. Our objective is to understand and formalize some generalized principles for motor control. More specifically, our studies are designed to further understand how the spinal cord controls posture and locomotion. The principal experimental model being used to accomplish this goal is spinal cord injury and in most cases this involves complete spinal cord injury. However other experimental paradigms used to study the plasticity of the neuromuscular system in absence of weight-bearing are spaceflight, suspension of the legs to prevent weight-bearing as well as normal in vivo neuromuscular performance in the 1 g environment. The highest priority within this laboratory is to understand the plasticity potential of the spinal cord and musculature with respect to the ability to recover functional posture and locomotion following spinal cord injury and other neuromotor disorders. In our efforts to reach our highest priority as well as to understand fundamental principles of the neural control of posture and locomotion we are participating in a number of projects, our collaborators include investigators within UCLA as well as scientists from other U.S. and international universities. One of our principal collaborative efforts consists of studies organized within the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation Consortium. Another collaborative effort is in the form of a Program Project Grant funded by NINDS. Currently these and other individual projects are funded by NIH, CRPF, NASA and the California Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injuries Fund.