About Our Group
Our research is on the control of movement by the brain and spinal cord. We all take precisely coordinated, effortless movements for granted, but movement requires complex, fast information processing. Patients whose motor systems have been affected by disease soon realise how difficult this is.
We have a special focus on the role of synchronous oscillations in the motor system. Research questions are investigated using a wide range of techniques, including experiments with in vivo systems, normal human volunteers and patients with neurological disorders. We are committed to the development of novel analytical methods to interpret experimental data: the laboratory adminsters the UK Spike Train Analysis Network. We also use computational modelling to investigate the complex, multi-component neural systems involved.
Most of our work is basic research - we are trying to understand how the brain controls movement in healthy individuals. This is a worthwhile challenge in itself. However, this knowledge is very likely to lead to new understanding of what goes wrong in disease. We have several collaborations with clinicians in Newcastle which allow us to exploit opportunities to apply our work as they arise.