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Associate Professor Jennifer Rodger

Research Profile

The brain works by passing electrical impulses between nerve cells. Human brains are very different (individual variability) and therefore it is difficult to know how to approach fixing them when they are damaged.

Jenny develops and tests new devices that use electromagnetic stimulation to change these electrical impulses and modify how the brain works. Her goal is to be able to change the electrical impulses in specific parts of the brain that may be abnormal or injured. This approach may provide effective treatments for a range of neurological and psychiatric conditions including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, stroke, depression and autism.

 

Jenny leads a research team investigating issues of brain plasticity relevant to brain disorders and employs various experimental models, especially the visual system, to ascertain how morphological and functional improvement can be achieved in the injured brain. Her most recent work focuses on the use of pulsed magnetic fields to promote neural circuit reorganisation and repair.

 

Jenny's research uses animal and in vitro models to determine the precise impact of electromagnetic stimulation on single brain cells, simple neural circuits and complex circuits that underpin behaviours. In this way, she will gain a better understanding of how brain stimulation treatments can be tailored to individuals and individual disorders.

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