Dr Tom Matheson, a Reader in Neurobiology, and Professor Rodrigo Quian Quiroga, a Professor of Bioengineering, have joined their areas of expertise together to begin this innovative research. They were recently awarded over £800,000 from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) to carry out the analysis of the sensory-motor control of limb movements.
The study will involve recording, analysing and manipulating the activity of individual nerve cells in locusts whilst they make aimed limb movements. This research will help to uncover the general principles of organisation that underpin all limb movements. At the same time the research will develop new methods that can be applied to the analysis of human brain signals.
Accidents and medical disorders that impair or prevent controlled limb movements have profound effects on the quality of life of the patients affected. Through this study, Dr Matheson and Professor Quian Quiroga seek to understand how the brain controls limb movements so that it is possible to better understand what goes wrong in disease processes, and to develop better medical interventions such as prosthetic limbs that are controlled by the activity of the patient’s brain.
Dr Matheson commented:
“We are very excited to have been given the opportunity by the BBSRC to set up and develop these new techniques. It is a great opportunity to combine the two areas of expertise of our labs in Biology and Engineering to address some very difficult but very interesting questions.”
With this research, Professor Quian Quiroga builds on his previous work of isolating the activity of single nerve cells from an overall response.
Professor Quian Quiroga commented:
“This grant from the BBSRC gives us the unique opportunity to study the activity of large population of neurons in a system that has been very well studied by my colleague, Dr Tom Matheson. On the one hand, it will give us the chance to further develop methodologies to study large neural populations, and on the other hand, our research will likely contribute to our knowledge of aimed movements in a system that is relatively simple compared to other animals and humans. This knowledge may contribute to the development of neural prostheses to be used by paralyzed patients, which is clearly an area of major significance.”
Peter Thorley | alfa
Further information:
http://www.le.ac.uk
Further reports about: > BBSRC > Bioengineering > Biological Sciences Research > limb control > limb movements > nerve cell > prosthetic limbs
Researchers find trigger that turns strep infections into flesh-eating disease
19.02.2019 | Houston Methodist
Loss of identity in immune cells explained
18.02.2019 | Technische Universität München
Up to now, OLEDs have been used exclusively as a novel lighting technology for use in luminaires and lamps. However, flexible organic technology can offer much more: as an active lighting surface, it can be combined with a wide variety of materials, not just to modify but to revolutionize the functionality and design of countless existing products. To exemplify this, the Fraunhofer FEP together with the company EMDE development of light GmbH will be presenting hybrid flexible OLEDs integrated into textile designs within the EU-funded project PI-SCALE for the first time at LOPEC (March 19-21, 2019 in Munich, Germany) as examples of some of the many possible applications.
The Fraunhofer FEP, a provider of research and development services in the field of organic electronics, has long been involved in the development of...
For the first time, an international team of scientists based in Regensburg, Germany, has recorded the orbitals of single molecules in different charge states in a novel type of microscopy. The research findings are published under the title “Mapping orbital changes upon electron transfer with tunneling microscopy on insulators” in the prestigious journal “Nature”.
The building blocks of matter surrounding us are atoms and molecules. The properties of that matter, however, are often not set by these building blocks...
Scientists at the University of Konstanz identify fierce competition between the human immune system and bacterial pathogens
Cell biologists from the University of Konstanz shed light on a recent evolutionary process in the human immune system and publish their findings in the...
Laser physicists have taken snapshots of carbon molecules C₆₀ showing how they transform in intense infrared light
When carbon molecules C₆₀ are exposed to an intense infrared light, they change their ball-like structure to a more elongated version. This has now been...
The so-called Abelian sandpile model has been studied by scientists for more than 30 years to better understand a physical phenomenon called self-organized...
Anzeige
Anzeige
Global Legal Hackathon at HAW Hamburg
11.02.2019 | Event News
The world of quantum chemistry meets in Heidelberg
30.01.2019 | Event News
16.01.2019 | Event News
Terahertz wireless makes big strides in paving the way to technological singularity
19.02.2019 | Information Technology
Researchers find trigger that turns strep infections into flesh-eating disease
19.02.2019 | Health and Medicine
Light from a roll – hybrid OLED creates innovative and functional luminous surfaces
19.02.2019 | Trade Fair News