A couple of minutes is all it takes to change the activity in bits of your brain for an hour. By using non-invasive techniques we are by now able to not only identify pathology in the human motor system but also to chart and influence the compensatory changes that occur in parts of the system unaffected by the disease process. A method known as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been adapted to investigate possible treatments for patients following a motor stroke. The lecture will give an insight in current research on the mechanism by which TMS influences the brain’s response to injury or chronic disease, aiming to improve and prolong the effects of TMS in conditions ranging from depression to brain damage.
John Rothwell (*1954 in the U.K.) is Head of the Physiology and Pathophysiology of Human Motor Control laboratory at the Institute of Neurology, University College London (UCL). The lab has a long experience in the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and has pioneered its use to study cortical connectivity, as a virtual lesion technique and as a method for provoking long-term changes in the excitability of cortical synapses. Professor Rothwell is strategic partner of the neurorehabilitation research group in the EU-project „ImpactG - Improvement of the research competitiveness in neuroscience at the Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald“
Moderation: PD Dr. Thomas Platz, BDH-Klinik Greifswald