MRRI Director Dylan Edwards, PhD, is looking forward to collaborating with colleagues at the Medical University of South Carolina as they establish The National Center of Neuromodulation for Rehabilitation (NC NM4R) with funding recently awarded from the National Institutes of Health. The Medical University of South Carolina is a world-class institution with a history of excellence in education, research, and patient care spanning nearly 200 years. The NC NM4R will serve as a hub for generating and integrating new knowledge in the area of neuromodulation with a focus on how this knowledge can be used to enhance rehabilitation. The NC NM4R is one of six centers in the NIH Medical Rehabilitation Research Resource Network. This Center will provide important support for investigators using neuromodulation methods as research tools or potential treatments in rehabilitation.

Dr. Edwards is a renowned expert in applications of non-invasive brain stimulation in neurorehabilitation across a variety of patient populations, including stroke, cerebral palsy, and spinal cord injury. As a consultant on this NIH award, Dr. Edwards will share his expertise through NC NM4R lectures and workshops. A virtual workshop has been planned in which Dr. Edwards and other leaders in the field will discuss using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for motor mapping in neurorehabilitation. Motor mapping during rehabilitation can provide valuable insights on the control of movement and allow for more precise targeting of the application of neuromodulation therapies. Currently, there is no consensus within scientific and clinical communities regarding mapping protocols or analysis methods. In this upcoming workshop, Dr. Edwards plans to cover innovations in TMS mapping techniques that may inform how researchers and clinicians use motor mapping in rehabilitation research and practice.

Collaborations such as this provide valuable opportunities for MRRI scientists to share their expertise and connect with researchers at other top tier research institutions to make important contributions to the field of rehabilitation research.