How rehab changes the brain after stroke
Official title: Impact of post-stroke rehabilitation on neurophysiological dynamics
Funded at University of Kansas Medical Center · NIH-11262919 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project will look at how rehabilitation training changes brain activity and connections after stroke to help people regain movement.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Kansas Medical Center NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Kansas City, United States) |
| Project start | April 17, 2024 |
| Project end | January 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $777,580 |
| NIH project number | 5R01NS131466-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11262919 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
People who had a recent stroke that caused arm or hand weakness—particularly strokes affecting motor pathways like internal capsule (capsular) strokes—are the population most likely to benefit from findings.
✕Less likely to help
People whose strokes did not affect motor pathways, who have very long-standing stable deficits, or who have other severe medical or neurological conditions may be less likely to benefit from this line of work.
What this research studies
From a patient's perspective, researchers are using a monkey model of stroke to track how brain signals and connections in movement areas change over time. They will compare animals that get intensive rehabilitation started in the sub-acute period after injury to those that do not, recording task-related motor activity and mesoscale cortico-cortical connectivity. The team will map the timing of neural changes and relate those changes to recovery of arm and hand function. The goal is to build a mechanistic picture of how rehab drives brain reorganization linked to improvement in movement.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could inform better timing and types of rehabilitation to improve arm and hand recovery after stroke.
How similar studies have gone: Previous animal and human studies have shown post-stroke brain plasticity, but most were cross-sectional and did not clearly link rehab-driven neural changes to functional recovery, so this project aims to fill that gap.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Kansas Medical Center
Kansas City, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Guggenmos, David — University of Kansas Medical Center
- Study coordinator: Guggenmos, David
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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Understanding how vagus nerve stimulation helps stroke recovery to guide better treatments
This NIH grant uses computer models to figure out how brief, task-timed vagus nerve stimulation affects the brain after stroke and helps movement recovery.
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Calcium imaging guides deep brain stimulation to boost chronic stroke recovery in a rat model
A research team is testing how customizing deep brain stimulation parameters in rats with stroke can improve long-term motor recovery, with the goal of guiding future patient treatments.
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Targeting synapse turnover to boost stroke recovery
Aims to find ways to shape brain rewiring after stroke by guiding how synapses grow, with the goal of helping adults recover upper-limb function.
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Wearable EMG-FES System to Help Stroke Recovery and Find Biological Markers
A wearable sleeve that uses your own muscle signals to help arm movement after stroke, while researchers look for biological clues that track recovery.
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Noradrenergic VNS to boost stroke rehab outcomes
A patient-oriented look at a therapy that combines brief vagus nerve stimulation with physical rehab to help people recover arm movement after a stroke.
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Prism adaptation for right-brain stroke rehabilitation
A personalized approach using prism adaptation to help people with spatial neglect after a right-hemisphere stroke improve everyday functioning.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.