Abstract

Neuroplasticity describes the ability of the nervous system to adapt after spinal cord injury. This ability is limited but essential to mediate the effect of rehabilitative training on motor recovery. We currently do not understand what regulates neuroplasticity and how it creates a window of opportunity for rehabilitative training, especially early after injury. Understanding the reason for this could open the foundations for novel treatments, especially for people living with chronic injuries. In this presentation we will discuss the role of inflammation in neuroplasticity, its potential benefits in promoting plasticity in a rat model of cervical spinal cord injury and reaching function as the training paradigm. Furthermore, we will address how the complexity of a spinal cord injury is affecting inflammation through various levels, for example via effects on the gut microbiome, and how this all contributes to the neuroanatomical functional paradox.

Biography

Karim Fouad is a Professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of Alberta. He studied Biology at the University in Konstanz where he also did PhD in Neuroscience in locomotor control. He continued with postdoctoral training at the University of Alberta in locomotor control, and then at the University of Zürich, where he began to study neuroregeneration and the role of neuroplasticity in rehabilitative training in animal models of spinal cord injury. He started his laboratory at the UofA in 2001 where he focuses on strategies to promote repair and recovery after injuries. Dr. Fouad received support from a wide range of founders including CIHR, Wings for Life, ISRT, the Craig Neilsen Foundation, and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.