Jonathan Carp
Contact
BA, Chemistry, 1976 (Haverford College)
PhD, Pharmacology, 1982 (George Washington U)
Affiliation
National Center for Adaptive Neurotechnologies, Stratton VA Medical Center, Albany, NY
The primary interest of our laboratory is the study of the substrates of learning in the vertebrate nervous system. Our studies have demonstrated operant conditioning of the simplest behavior of the vertebrate CNS, the H-reflex, which is the electrical analog of the spinal stretch reflex. This conditioning induces plasticity in both the brain and the spinal cord, so that H-reflex conditioning is a good model for studying the processes underlying a learned change in behavior. It also provides the basis for a new therapeutic approach to the treatment of spasticity and other forms of abnormal reflex function. Our present goals are to define the spinal cord plasticity associated with H-reflex conditioning at physiological, anatomical, and genomic levels, and to determine how supraspinal control produces this spinal plasticity.
Research Interests
- Motor control
- Spinal cord injury
- Urinary function
- Motoneuron physiology