FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION AND CONTROL OF HUMAN MASSETERS

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Long term career objectives of mine consist of (1) maintaining a productive and meaningful research program in the area of masticatory motor control; (2) having a positive impact on the teaching of students by utilizing a multi-disciplinary approach (basic and clinical sciences); and (3) providing the most effective evaluation and treatment services to patients based on our current knowledge. With a firm foundation in both the basic sciences and clinical fields, the ability to develop meaningful hypotheses and test them appropriately on a scientific basis may be enhanced. My immediate career objective, therefore, is to refine and extend my basic knowledge in the field of neurophysiology, and more specifically, in the area of motor control mechanisms. The RCDA would provide a mechanism for: (1) developing the fundamental background; (2) learning laboratory techniques for animal investigations; (3) learning mammalian motor control mechanisms in the limb by direct participation in on-going NIH funded research in three laboratories as well as a sabbatical outside the University; and ) increasing the interdisciplinary exchange of ideas in the basic and clinical sciences with the ultimate objective of applying this broader base of knowledge towards investigating health-related problems. An integration of the expertise from the University of Florida (Dr. John Munson) and Emory University (Dr. A.W. English and Dr. T.R. Nichols) will provide a substantial experience in the area of motor control following nerve regeneration, developmental aspects of neuromuscular compartments, and the regulation of posture and stiffness and their relationship to muscle length and force changes, cutaneous inputs and brainstem structures. In addition, spending a six month sabbatical near the end of the RCDA period at another institution would further broaden my background. I would consider laboratories which have a major research focus on the masticatory system. The research to be conducted in parallel to the informal training will examine the basic fundamentals of the anatomical substrate, functional organization and mechanisms of control of the human masseter muscle (similar to the studies of Dr. A.W. English in cat hindlimb). A logical progression will be followed by first examining the masseter internal anatomical architecture to identify its structural partitions, and then study the functional neuromuscular compartments of the muscle by multi-site EMG recordings. After a thorough evaluation of the functional organization of the masseter muscle in normal subjects without pain, we will examine asymptomatic subjects with experimentally-induced facial pain.