Neuroscience Collaborative Center and research opportunities

UofL Health – Frazer Rehabilitation Institute’s Neuroscience Collaborative Center is a joint partnership between The Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center (KSCIRC), the University of Louisville’s Department of Neurological Surgery and Division of Movement Disorders. The center focuses on research in the area of neurological disorders including movement disorders and spinal cord injury.

The research team is comprised of scientists, engineers, physicians, technicians and physical therapists who work together to understand how the nervous system works during human locomotion. The focus is on retraining the nervous system to facilitate the recovery of standing and stepping in individuals with spinal cord injury. Our studies investigate not only physiological characteristics that enable retraining of the nervous system to stand and walk, but also examine a number of issues secondary to spinal cord injury.

Additional resources

Autogenic Feedback Training Exercise (AFTE) in people with Spinal Cord Injury

AFTE is a nonpharmacological countermeasure that involves training subjects to control physiological responses in stressful and relaxing environments (i.e., biofeedback). The protocol uses software designed by NASA and used in space crews. People exposed to microgravity (e.g., astronauts), inactivity or bed rest suffer many physiological impairments similar to SCI. In particular, we are investigating the effects of AFTE on autonomic responses, including blood pressure and gastric motility modulation, thermoregulation and wellbeing. The material is based upon work supported by NASA Kentucky under NASA award number 80NSSC20M004.

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