CMU Neural Engineering Virtual Seminar
Speaker: Dr. George Wittenberg, MD, Professor of Neurology, University of Pittsburgh
Abstract: Over the past three decades, the understanding of motor recovery after stroke has evolved through the integration of neuroimaging, non-invasive brain stimulation, and computational motor control frameworks. This seminar presents a longitudinal perspective on the mechanisms of motor recovery, from early PET-based studies to recent applications of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and robotic kinematic analysis of arm movements. Emphasis is placed on the reorganization of cortical networks during the subacute phase post-stroke, the role of bilateral and non-primary motor areas, and the modulation of these networks through targeted neurostimulation. Key findings include the dynamic involvement of frontal premotor, parietal multimodal, and primary motor cortex in reach planning and execution. Data from stroke survivors suggest that disruptions in motor network connectivity contribute to impaired motor planning, but that targeted stimulation may enhance recovery when combined with practice. The seminar underscores the need for personalized, circuit-level approaches to rehabilitation, and proposes a translational pathway toward combining brain stimulation with robotic therapy to improve upper limb function after stroke.
About the Speaker: Dr. George Wittenberg received training at Harvard, UC San Diego, Washington U., St. Louis, the National Institutes of Health, and KU Leuven. His clinical and research interests are in neurorehabilitation, stroke, cerebral palsy and movement disorders. He uses transcranial magnetic stimulation, functional imaging, rehabilitation robotics, and wearable sensors to study recovery of motor function. He actively collaborates in studies of spatial neglect, minimal invasive brain and spinal cord stimulation, and new approaches to neurophysiology and brain imaging. He has a tenured appointment as Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Pittsburgh, with secondary appointments in the Departments of Bioengineering and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. He is an Associate Director of the Technology Enhancing Cognition and Health Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (TECH-GRECC) in the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System. He directs the Laboratory for Research on Arm Function and Therapy (RAFT), one of the Rehab Neural Engineering Labs, which has a multidisciplinary faculty of ten. Dr. Wittenberg is a Fellow and past-president of the American Society of Neurorehabilitation and Board Certified in Neurology and Brain Injury Medicine. He is an Associate Editor of Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair and vice-chair for an American Heart Association peer-review panel.