Corinna Darian-Smith, PhD Associate Professor, received her Ph.D. from the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her Postdoctoral research was undertaken in the Department of Neurobiology at Rockefeller University. She is primarily interested in questions relating to (1) the organization of central neural pathways involved in fine finger/hand control, and (2) the capacity of these sensorimotor pathways to compensate/adapt following localized injury.
My research focuses on two main areas:
- the structural organization and function of central neural pathways (e.g. of the spinal cord, brainstem, thalamus and cortex) that underlie directed manual behavior, and
- the capacity of these central neural pathways (circuits) to compensate/adapt following localized injury. Our laboratory uses neuroanatomical, electrophysiological and behavioural approaches to look at the sensorimotor systems of nonhuman primates, and to examine the neural basis for functional 'recovery’ observed following the selective disruption of pathways mediating fine finger control.
We are also interested in the presence and role of adult neurogenesis in the CNS following injury.
