SEPCORPS Model - SEParating CORtical and SPinal -level motor control responses using transcranial direct current stimulation and transcutaneous electrical stimulation

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This project designs computer representations of the brain and spinal cord in order to better understand how humans move. The software is also built to duplicate how brain and spinal cord systems adapt to change, such as through injury. The researchers will use this software as part of an experimental study that explores medical technology used in brain stimulation and muscle stimulation to improve how it is used in healthcare. The computer representations will then be used to understand the interactions of these biological systems in human movement. The specific intents of this study will look at the brain’s adaptation in relation to the spinal cord’s role in modifying movement behavior based on the information it receives from the body’s natural sensors.Our overarching goal for this project is to develop the first corticospinal model that can capture cortical and spinal-level motor contributions modified by neurostimulation. The researchers will accomplish this by first building the model around healthy subjects performing a volitional cursor movement task on an in-house built human-machine interface. The motions will be perturbed with transcutaneous neuromuscular stimulation, allowing spinal-level stimulus-response behaviors to be modeled. Then, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based systems analysis will be applied to implement mappings of the cortical controller to define the brain-muscle pathway in motor execution. These subject-specific tuned models will support the same cursor movement task experiments, but with perturbations being applied at both cortical and spinal levels using neurostimulation (non-invasive brain stimulation + neuromuscular stimulation). The measured effect will be leveraged by the computational model to separate cortical and spinal-level contributions, along with the inherent sensory-motor responses. This model is hypothesized to have translational application in the optimization of neurostimulation strategies and their related rehabilitation outcomes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.