Larry M Jordan

Biography

B.A. (Zoology) Univ. of Texas, 1966 M.Sc. (Neurophysiology), Univ. of Texas, 1969 Ph.D. (Neurophysiology), Univ. of Texas, 1971 Postdoctoral Fellow, Univ. of Manitoba, 1970-72 Assistant Professor (Physiology), Univ. of Manitoba, 1972-77 Associate Professor (Physiology), Univ. of Manitoba, 1977-86 Professor (Physiology), Univ. of Manitoba, 1986-present Co-Director, Spinal Cord Research Centre, Health Sciences Centre and Univ. of Manitoba, 1987-present Director, Neuroscience Research Program, Univ. of Manitoba, 1989-present Chair (Physiology), Univ. of Manitoba, 1993-2002

Research Interest

Research in my laboratory is directed towards attaining an understanding of brain and spinal cord mechanisms for the initiation and control of locomotion. The overall goal of these studies is to develop strategies for the application of basic knowledge concerning the control of locomotion to the treatment of spinal cord disease and injury in humans. Ongoing projects include: 1. An investigation of the pathways from the brain to the spinal cord which are essential for the initiation of locomotion, using metabolic mapping, anterograde and retrograde tracers, and intracellular filling of identified reticulospinal cells. 2. Studies of putative transmitter substances and other neuroactive substances as possible chemical mediators for the initiation of locomotion. 3. An investigation of the spinal generator for locomotion by recording from identified neurons in the spinal cord during locomotor activity, determining their sites of termination, their actions on target cells, and their pharmacological characteristics. 4. Mapping of locomotion-related spinal cord cells using activity-dependent immunohistochemical markers, magnetic resonance imaging, and electrophysiological methods.