Remapping the brain’s circuitry
UO researcher on cutting edge of neuroscience
Scott Frey, a neuroscientist at the University of Oregon, is interested in helping to improve the quality of life for people who have suffered traumatic head or bodily injuries.
As director of the Lewis Center for Neuroimaging, Frey studies brain structure and neural activity using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). He strives to understand the cognitive, sensory, and motor mechanisms that make uniquely human skills possible and to use this knowledge to develop more effective rehabilitation strategies.
When someone loses certain motor abilities, Frey has found, “it may be possible to stimulate the same brain circuits that are involved in conducting those behaviors” by calling upon the person’s imagination. Functional MRI (fMRI) results show that many of the same regions of the brain’s left hemisphere are activated when individuals actually use, or mentally rehearse using, familiar tools and utensils.
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Most recently, Frey has been using MRI to study the brains of a small number of individuals who have undergone hand-transplant surgeries.
One man lost a hand in an industrial accident when he was nineteen. Thirty-five years later, the same man received a transplanted hand. Frey reported in October 2008 that areas of the brain that would have been devoted to his natural hand had begun to respond to touch on the newly transplanted hand. So far the map corresponds to the palm, but fMRI technology will enable Frey to track how reorganizational changes in the brain correspond with returning sensory abilities throughout the hand.
“These patients provide insights into the brain’s remarkable ability to recover functions even after devastating injuries,” Frey says.