Qi (Kiki) Yang, Ph.D.

I am interested in motor control, neural injury and rehabilitation. For my Ph.D. study in Dr Simon Giszter’s Modular Neuromechanics lab, using experimental and computational methods, I studied the similarity and difference of the modular organized spinal circuits in intact, neonatal and adult spinal cord injured animals. Employing paradigms combining robot support, epidural stimulation and treadmill training, I also investigated the plasticity changes of the spinal neural circuits in adult spinalized animals through rehabilitation. Following my Ph.D. study, I joined Dr Jason Carmel’s Motor Recovery Laboratory and focus my research on the translational study of rehabilitation efficacy of paired theta-burst cortical and trans-spinal direct current stimulation to promote axons sprouting and forelimb motor function in cervical spinal injured animals.