There are 62,000 strokes in Canada each year–one every nine minutes–and 405,000 Canadians are living with the effects of stroke. Stroke rehabilitation is a large field with a need for further research and treatment development.
Dr. Balbi will investigate brain stimulation and movement-based stroke rehabilitation by studying brain activity and forelimb movement in mice stroke models.
The aim is that this research will yield optimal parameters and inform treatment in humans with regards to intensity and frequency of rehabilitation, specific passive movements and brain stimulation, and ultimately will allow human-translatable stroke treatments to be piloted in a larger sample.