Collaborative Opportunities

The purpose of NC NM4R's Collaborative Opportunities component is to provide expert training services and short-term opportunities for visiting rehabilitation researchers to gain hands-on research experience working with experts in the National Center of Neuromodulation for Rehabilitation at MUSC. This component will host our most specialized efforts to train investigators to be successful independent NM4R researchers who will in turn contribute to advancement of the Center’s overarching goal to exert a sustained, powerful influence on the field of NM4R.

The activities proposed in this component buttress the NC NM4R mission of “fostering the success of the NM4R researcher” by sending a nationwide invitation to researchers interested in the mechanisms and evidenced-based use of neural stimulation and operant conditioning of brain and spinal cord networks as an adjunct or integrated part of rehabilitation treatment.

A team made up of established NC NM4R faculty and researchers will assess the needs of individual researchers and match them with appropriate center resources such that the researcher develops his/her NM4R skills and becomes more competitive for NIH and other similar funding, including explicit assistance and mentorship with NM4R grantsmanship.  The team will facilitate advanced hands-on training experiences (from one day to extended sabbatical) in NC NM4R laboratories for selected investigators to have specific predetermined experiences and gain the skills necessary for success.

Neuromodulation for Rehabilitation is a teachable expertise – one that MUSC has a proven history of exporting to the world and will build upon in the NC NM4R. As with most forms of teaching, we will utilize the evaluation processes of the Center to assure our users benefit to the maximum extent possible.

The Collaborative Opportunities component will foster the development of NM4R through:

Use of MUSC NC NM4R Facilities for training and research

Consultation with NC NM4R faculty