David Mccrea

Biography

Ph. D. (Physiology), Univ. of Manitoba, 1979 Postdoctoral Fellow, Univ. of Göteborg, Sweden, 1979-81 Research Associate, Univ. of Toronto, 1981-83 Professor (Physiology), Univ. of Manitoba, 1983-present

Research Interest

A key goal of our research is to see how spinal reflexes operate during walking. We known that the spinal cord contains all of the neuronal circuits needed to produce coordinated walking and that the brain activates these spinal motor centres. Once activated, the spinal cord produces the detailed pattern of muscle activation occurring during walking and other rhythmic motor activities. The spinal nerve cells that make the spinal stepping generator have not been identified. Unravelling this mystery and identifying how spinal cells are connected together to produce locomotion is essential to restoring locomotion following spinal cord injury in man. The spinal cord circuitry responsible for walking appears to be almost identical in higher mammals and man. One goal of our research is to construct the "wiring diagram" of the motor systems in the mammalian spinal cord. This involves recording the electrical activity of identified spinal neurons in order to determine the connections and interactions between neurons that produce locomotion.