the University of East London

The Rehabilitation Centre at the University of East London. Members with an interest in neuromuscular rehabilitation include Professor Duncan Turner (Professor of Restorative Neuroscience and Rehabilitation Medicine), Dr Paul Sacco (Senior Research Fellow in Human Neurophysiology), Professor David Rose (Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychology), Dr Wendy Drechsler (Clinical Researcher in Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy), Dr Mary Cramp (Clinical Researcher in Stroke Neurorehabilitation), Dr Jane Culpan (Clinical Researcher in Stroke Neurorehabilitation), Carol Resteghini (Clinical Research Fellow in Neuroscience), Tim Hunter (Physiotherapist PhD student in NeuroRobotics), Stuart McMillan (Physiotherapist PhD student in NeuroRobotics) and Xiaojun Tang (EEG and Human Neurophysiology PhD student)
We are newly formed research group at UEL and have a growing international reputation in demonstrating the neural basis of movements made in robot-induced force fields and virtual haptic environments. We particularly interested in brain re-organisation during motor learning and motor control in stroke, diabetes and multiple sclerosis as well cognitive neurorehabilitation. We are beginning to develop clinical trials whereby our robots are used in existing Stroke Care Pathways in our local NHS Trusts. We participate in international collaborations in USA (MIT/Harvard) and Germany (Univ. Gottingen) as well as UK centres of excellence (Inst. Neurology at UCL). The senior researchers have published widely in neurophysiology, neuropsychology, clinical biomechanics and clinical exercise physiology disciplines and the senior clinicians have considerable experience of postgraduate practice in leading UK rehabilitation units such as the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit at the Homerton Hospital Foundation NHS Trust. Several members of the group were selected for the RAE2008 submission in Allied Health professions and have published a total of over 60 articles since 2001. We have held research project grants totally over £300000 from The Wellcome Trust, ESRC, Stroke Association, Haemophilia Society since 2001. We operate a multidisciplinary and modular research environment so that all members can employ robotics (InMotion Technologies, Immersion VR and SensAble PHANToMs), isokinetic dynamometers (BioDex, KingCom and SMR Cycle), motion analysis (10 camera VICON system), muscle ultrasound (DiaSys) as well as near infra-red (NIRO-300) and EEG (NeuroScan Inc.) brain monitoring devices. We have specifically designed paradigms for using functional electrical nerve/muscle stimulation and transcranial brain stimulation techniques including magnetic and electrical stimulation (TMS and TES; Magstim Co Ltd) and more recently transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) as well as functional neuro-imaging (fMRI with colleagues at Inst. Psychiatry, Kings College). We have a growing PhD student group (10 currently registered and increasing at >1 per year; with a record of 12 PhD completions since 2001). We peer review and act as editors for publications in many physiology, psychology and neuroscience journals and present work at UK and overseas centres of excellence each year.