During my time at the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre (WHSC), I had the opportunity to view their experimental protocol for in vivo fictive locomotion with a rat. While the experiment itself was unsuccessful, they were able to show me recordings collected from a previous experiment. I was able to view a number of different imaging techniques (PET, CT, MRI) used with animals, took part in a couple of FES rowing training sessions with human participants, and attended a talk about the role of specific interneurons involved in the CPG rhythmicity within the rat spinal cord. Dr. Stecina and I also visited the kinesiology department to participate in a collaborative discussion between the physiological and behavioural research groups. Full-text screening and grouping of the articles by imaging modality and patient population was also completed. Katrina and I attended a Winnipeg Jets game during the week, and we also went out for dinner with Dr. Cowley, Dr. Stecina, and other members of their lab. As someone who primarily works with human patients in a clinical setting, this was an excellent learning experience for me to gain insight into the potential benefits and challenges of working with animal models for translational research. This exposure was beneficial as I consider my own future research plans and my desire to combine basic science discoveries with clinical applications. I am grateful to the ReCon team for allowing me this opportunity and to the researchers at the University of Manitoba and the WHSC for hosting me.
One primary focus for this exchange was learning about the decerebrate preparation that is used by many of the researchers at the University of Manitoba. Over the course of the exchange I was exposed to two decerebrate preparations, each with different recording targets. The first was in the lab of Dr. Phillip Gardiner, who demonstrated how to target motoneurons for whole cell recording using electrophysiological properties. The second was in the lab of Dr. Katinka Stecina using a fictive locomotion preparation, which was performed by Katrina Armstrong. I observed the experiment from start to finish, including the dissection of the tibial and peroneal nerves and electrode attachment, decerebration, and stimulator orientation in the mesencephalic locomotor region/ and the stimulation procedure.
Dr. Kris Cowley and I worked together on two projects: imaging and functional electrical stimulation (FES) rowing training. A primary focus of the imaging project was ultrasound. Dr. Cowley, Katrina, and I met with the University of Manitoba ultrasound technicians where I guided the technicians through our ultrasound procedure of the heart (short/long axis measurements), pulmonary artery, and musculature. I was also shown the MRI and CT machines in the University of Manitoba imaging core, which included examples of MRI and CT measurements that had been taken during previous studies. Dr. Cowley also showed me a session of her FES rowing training, which was of interest to me given my background in biomechanics. We had a lengthy discussion about how to best measure/improve the kinematics of rowing, as well as optimal ways to measure the forces being generated during this paradigm. Additionally, Dr. Cowley and I discussed a review article that is in progress; this combined with the exchange of ideas between us will help benefit the ReCon team.
I am writing to discuss my recent exchange to Dr. Magnuson’s lab at the University of Louisville. I chose Dr. Magnuson’s lab because they are experienced with using ultrasound imaging to look at cardiac function after spinal cord injury in animal models and we are looking to develop this method at our facility. During this exchange, it was extremely beneficial to get a demonstration of their VEVO 3100 ultrasound machine and the knowledge gained will help to develop an imaging protocol with our VEVO 2100 machine. Dr. Magnuson’s team is currently developing the capacity to use their ultrasound to determine muscle changes after spinal cord injury and further discussions with his lab will allow us to adopt this method in our research. As well, during this exchange I had several discussions with members of Dr. Magnuson’s team and I was able to meet with other principle investigators from Louisville including Dr. Rouffet, Dr. Stirling, Dr. Petruska, and Dr. Saraswat. I was able to learn about several projects investigating spinal cord injury, ranging from basic science to clinical research, which was of great benefit to learn about the translation continuum across the labs within the university. During this exchange, I was also able to update Dr. Magnuson on the current status of the muscle imaging systematic review. Overall, the exchange allowed me to establish new connections with several researchers in Louisville, created important dialogue about methodologies to measure outcomes in SCI research, and facilitated discussion about the current status of the ReCon systematic review. It was of great benefit for my personal development as a researcher and I would like to thank the team and Dr. Magnuson for this opportunity.