Associate Professor
Research Interests
My
laboratory encompasses two research approaches.
The first approach involves basic research into the spinal cord's capabilities for organization and control of limb biomechanics. For these studies we utilize the spinal frog and more recently the decerebrate rat. The spinal frog is a robust preparation that exhibits complex reflex behaviors. These behaviors capture many of the fundamental biomechanical and control problems faced by tetrapods. Recent results obtained from microstimulation of frog spinal cords suggest that there may exist a few primitives or modules for controlling force and movement during reflex behaviors and perhaps motor control generally.
In these experiments we recorded the biomechanical limb responses as
force-fields generated in the limb by the spinal cord. We discovered that there
were few force-field types and that these types were stable and scaled in
magnitude with increasing stimulation strength or duration. These force-field
types could be combined by simple vector superposition to allow construction of
novel force-fields for limb control. Early work also suggested that these
primitives were located in specific regions in the spinal cord. Recent dense
microstimulation maps confirm that only a few force directions are represented.
Specific patterns of muscle activity can be used as predictors of the force
directions. Finally, the data demonstrate that the spatial distributions of
force directions elicited by microstimulation can be related to the spinal cord
structure and in particular the interneuron target fields of different
descending and sensory systems in the grey matter. Exploration of how these
systems and their control interact in the generation and control of reflex and
locomotory behaviors is the current focus of this project. We have successfully
demonstrated reflex behaviors are constructed and adjusted using combinations
of force-field primitives. We also use small haptic robot designed for
virtual reality systems to present different virtual environments to the frog
limb. We have shown considerable effects of environmental compliance on limb
response.
Besides its basic interest, ultimately this project may contribute
to functional electrical stimulation, teleoperation, and design of
biomorphic robots and contribute to understanding and promoting rehabilitation
and plasticity for recovery of function.
Recovery of function following injury involves growth,
reconnection of cells and adjustment of synaptic strength. These changes
cooperate to produce recovery of system level behaviors. At the system level,
function in the repaired CNS involves adjustments of the computational tasks
carried out by the nervous system. These compensate for or utilize the
alterations, deficits and mistakes in the new information flows. From this
perspective understanding of the biomechanics and control engineering of the
normal, injured and recovered systems is essential to assess the successes and
failures of clinical interventions. The second approach used in my laboratory
involves the examination of locomotion and stance kinematics, force production,
and spinal and cortex organization and controls in normal, transected and
transplanted rats. This works in collaboration with the laboratories of Drs.
Fischer,
Selected publications
Bizzi, E., Mussa-Ivaldi, F.A. and Giszter,S. (1991) Computations underlying the execution of movement, a biologicalperspective. Science, 253: 287-291.
Mussa-Ivaldi, F.A. and Giszter,S.F. (1992) Vector Field
Approximation: A computational paradigm for motorcontr
ol and learning. Biological Cybernetics, 67, 491-500.
Giszter, S.F., Mussa-Ivaldi,
F.A.and Bizzi, E. (1993)
Convergent force fields organized in the frog spinalcord.
J. Neuroscience, 13:467-491.
Giszter, S.F., Kargo W, ShibayamaM and Davies M.R. (1998) Fetal transplants placed into neonatal spinaltransections in rats rescue axial muscle representations in adult motorcortex and improve recovery of l ocomotion. J Neurophysiol 80:3021-3030.
Kargo WJ and Giszter SF, (2000),Rapid corrections of aimed movements by combination of force-field primitives.J Neurosci 20:409-426
Kargo, WJ and Giszter SF, (2000)Afferent roles in hindlimb wiping reflex: free limb kinematics and motorpatterns. J Neurophysiology 83(3):1480-1501
Giszter SF and Kargo WJ (2000) Conservedtemporal dynamics and vector superposition of primitives in frog wipingreflexes during spontaneous extensor deletions. Neurocomputing 32-33:775-783
Giszter SF Moxon KA Rybak I ChapinJK (2000) A neurobiological perspective on design of humanoid robots andtheir components IEEE Intelligent Systems 15(4): 64-69
Giszter SF Grill W Lemay M MushahwarV and Prochazka A (2000)
Intraspinal microstimu lation: techniques, perspectivesand
prospects for
Giszter, S.F., Loeb E., Mussa-Iva ldiF.A. and Bizzi E. (2000) Dense mapping of frog lumbar spinal cord: organizationof force and muscle use. Human Movement Science 19 :597-626
Giszter1 Simon F., and Kargo WilliamJ,(2001) Modeling of dynamic controls in the frog wiping reflex: force-fieldlevel controls. Neurocomputing. 38-40:1239-1247
Giszter SF (2001) Quantization ofmotor drive into time-frequency atoms using independent component analys isand matching pursuit algorithms 2001 Proceedings IEEE/EMBS Istanbul Turkey.
In press
Giszter SF Moxon KA Rybak I ChapinJK (2001) Neurobiological and neur orobotic approaches to design of a controllerfor a humanoid motor system Robotics and Autonomous Systems.
Giszter SF (2001/2) Motor primitives.In Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks (2nd ed) MIT Press
Giszter SF (2001) Biomechanicalprimitives and heterarchical control in tetrapod locomotion. In Neurotechnologyfor biomimetic robots ed Ayers J Rudolph A and Davis J MIT Press
People
Research PostDocs
Corey Hart
WeiguoSong
Graduate Students:
Arun Ramakrishnan
Ubong Ime Udoekwere
TaeGyo Kim
FuHan Hsieh
Research Technician
Rebecca Jay
Past students and staff
Cindy Agnew
Sergey Markam PhD
Jonathan Scabich
Bronwyn Kilby
Vidyaangi Patil
Yu-Li Liang
Lollise Mbi
Martin M. Przeworski
Projects
Rat Projects:
Rat Trunk Adaptation to Lifting Elastic Fields
Simon Giszter
Ubong Ime Udoekwere
Arun Ramakrishnan
Peripheral Nerve-Bridge- novel neuro-rehabilitative approach to SCI in rats
Simon Giszter
Jack Martin
Ubong Ime Udoekwere
Osamu Uemera
Rebecca Jay
Locomotor Recovery after SCI using Epidural Stimulation
FuHan Hsieh
Simon Giszter
BMI and Neural understanding of locomotory adaptations
WeiGuo Song
Simon Giszter
Frog Projects:
Sensorimotor integration for motor primitives-an anatomically correct approach
Simon Giszter
Arun Ramakrishnan
Jonathan Nissanov
Louise Bertrand
Kiisa Nishikawa
Jenna Monroy
Theodore A. Uyeno
Dinesh Pai
Shinjiro Sueda
Frog Spinal Cord: Segmental organization and response to multiple stimulation
TaeGyo Kim
Simon Giszter
Frog spinal cord and reflex organization as a set of motor primitives
Corey Hart
Simon Giszter
Sergey Markin
Other Projects:
Braided tetrodes: A novel electrode technique
TaeGyo Kim
Arun Ramakrishnan
Ubong Ime Udoekwere
Simon Giszter
Past Projects
Rat motor primitives in spinalcord injury and functional recovery
Jonathon Scabich
Simon Giszter
Cindy Agnew
MotorCortex organization following SCI and
recovery:
Cindy Agnew
Jonathon Scabich
Simon Giszter
Bronwyn Kilby
Karen Moxon
Biomechanics of functional recovery after SCI
Bronwyn Kilby
Cindy Agnew
Simon Giszter
Jed Shumsky
Novel methods of deep brain stimulation and FNS
Graham Ellis-Davies
Martin M. Przeworski
Michel Lemay
Ken Simansky
Karen Moxon
Jonathon Scabich
Simon Giszter
Laboratory Funding
PI, laboratory and staff currently supported by
NIH R01 NS 40412 : Force-Field controling frog spinal and voluntary motor behavior 2001-2006 PI Simon Giszter
NIH PPG P01 NS24707 : Project4 - Plasticity of Motor Primitives 2001-2006 Project PI Simon Giszter,Program PI Marion Murray
NIH Training grant: Understandingthe biological basis of brain injury and disease , PI Itzhak Fischer 1998-2003
MCPHU Spinal cord center grant
Drexel Major Research Initiative (MRI)
Drexel Neuroengineering Program
Past support:
NIH R29 NS34640 : Force-field Controlin spinal Reflexes of the Frog PI Simon Giszter 1995-2000
NIH NS07287 Traininggr ant: Mechanisms promoting Rehabilitation, PI M Murray 1994-1999,1999-2004
ASRI grant PI Simon Giszter1995-1996
MCPHU Spinal cord center grant
Links
Colleagues
OurNeurobiology Department homepage
OurSpinal cord group and some of my colleagues here homepage
Conferences organized by myself and colleagues:
"TheNIPS 2000 Neuroprosthetic and neurorobotic workshop homep age "
"The2000 NCM Computational Motor Systems Satellite Meeting "
"The1998 NCM Computational Motor Systems Satellite Meeting "
See also:
Our Neuroengineering program page
Neuralcontrol of movement society homepage
RecentNeurotechnology and robots conference homepage
Neurosciencegraduate program homepage
Departmento f Neurobiology and Anatomy at MCPHU homepage
Neuroengineeringgroup of joint faculty at Drexel/MCPHU
International Society of Biomechanics
The Neural Control of Movement Society
Publications (chronological)
Most recent list of publications: Pubmed.gov
Refereed papers chronologically:
Giszter, S.F., Koreisha,
S.G. and
Giszter, S.F., McIntyre, J. and Bizzi, E. (1989) Kinematic strategiesand sensorimotor transformations in the wiping movements of frogs. J. Neurophysiol., 62, 750?767.
Mussa-Ivaldi, F.A. and Giszter, S.F. (1991) A field?approximation approachto
the execution of motor pla ns. Fifth
Intern'tl. Conf. Advanced Robotics,
Mussa-Ivaldi, F.A., Bizzi, E. and Giszter, S.F. (1991) Transformingplans into actions by tuning passive behavior: a field?approximation approach.Proc. 1991 IEEE Int'l. Symposium on Intellige nt Control.
Bizzi, E., Mussa-Ivaldi, F.A. and Giszter, S. (1991) Computations underlyingthe execution of movement, a biological perspective. Science, 253:287?291.
Bizzi, E., Mussa-Ivaldi, F.A. and Giszter, S. (1992) Does the nervoussystem use equilibrium? point control to guide single and multiple joint movements? Behavioraland Brain Sciences.
Mussa-Ivaldi, F.A. and Giszter, S.F. (1992) Vector Field Approximation:A computational paradigm for motor control and learning. Bio logical Cybernetics,67, 491-500.
Giszter, S.F., Mussa-Ivaldi, F.A. and Bizzi, E. (1993) Convergent forcefields organized in the frog spinal cord. J. Neuroscience, 13:467-491.
Loeb, E., Giszter, S.F., Borghesani, P., Bizzi, E. (1993) The roleof afference in convergent force fields elicited in the frog spinal cord.Somatosensory and Motor Behavior, 10:81-95.
Giszter, S.F. (1993) Behavior networks and force fields for simulatingspinal reflex behaviors of the frog. 2nd. International con ference on theSimulation of Adaptive Behavior, (From Animals to Animats 2), 172-181,MIT Press.
Giszter, S.F. (1994) Reinforcement tuning of action synthesis and selectionin a virtual frog. 3rd. International conference on the Simulation of Adaptive Behavior, (From Animals to Animats 3),
291-301, MIT Press.
Mussa-Ivaldi, F.A., Giszter S.F., Bizzi E. (1994) Linear combinationof primitives in vertebrate motor control. Proceedings and National Academyof Sciences . 91:7534-7538
Giszter S.F. (1 994) Combination of primitive force-generating motorelements during reflex behaviors. Proc. 16th Annual IEEE Conf on Engineeringin Biology and Medicine. Proceedings on CD-ROM and bound volume.
Bizzi E, Giszter SF, Loeb E, Mussa-Ivaldi FA and Saltiel P (1995) Modularorganization of motor behavior in the frog's spinal cord. Trendsin Neurosciences. Review. 18:442-446 .
Giszter SF Kargo W and Davies 1996 Motor Primitives in the spinal cordas a basis for motor learning and action Paper s of 1996 AAAI Fall SymposiumTech Rep FS-96-02 Embodied Cognition and Action. AAAI Press
Tessler A, Fischer, I Giszter S.F.
Himes BT, and Murray M. (1996) EmbryonicSpinal Cord
Transplants Enhance Locomotor Performance in spinalized Newborn Rat s. (In: Neuronal regeneration,
reorganization and repair. Issueed. FJ Seil.) pp 291-303 Advances in
Neurology Vol 72.
Miya D, Giszter SF, Mori F, Tessler A, Murray M 1997 Fetal transplantsalter the development of function after spinal cord transection in newbornrats. J Neurosci 17(12):4856-4872
Giszter SF 1997 Modularity, extensibility, response time andstability: compromises in spinal reflex behaviors. IEEE Paper I-97138BProc IEEE American Control Conference . Volume 5: 3277-3280
Giszter, S.F., Kargo W, Shibayama M and Davies M.R. (1998) Fetaltransplants placed into neonatal spinal transections in rats rescue axialmuscle representations in adult motor cortex and improve recovery of locomotion.J N europhysiol 80:3021-3030
Giszter SF, Graziani V, Kargo W, Hockensmith G, Davies MR, SmeraskiC and Murray M (1999)
Pattern generators and cortical maps in locomotion of spinal injuredrats. Extended abstract Proc NYAS 860: 554-555
Kargo W, Dav ies MR and Giszter SF (1999) Segmental afferent controlof hindlimb wiping in spinal frogs. Extended abstract Proc NYAS 860: 456-457
Loeb E P, Giszter SF, Saltiel P, Mussa-Ivaldi FA and Bizzi E (1999)Output units of motor behavior: an experimental an d modeling study. Journalof Cognitive Neuroscience 12:1-20.
Kim D, Adipudi V, Shibayama M, Giszter SF, Tessler A, Murray M and Simansky KJ (1999) Direct agonists for serotonin (5-HT2) receptorsenhance locomotor function in rats that received n eural transplants afterneonatal spinal transection. J Neurosci. 19(1):6213-6224
Kargo WJ and Giszter SF, (2000), Rapid corrections of aimed movementsby combination of force-field primitives. J Neurosci 20:409-426
Kargo, WJ and Giszte r SF, (2000) Afferent roles in hindlimb wipingreflex: free limb kinematics and motor patterns. J Neurophysiology83(3):1480-1501
Giszter SF and Kargo WJ (2000) Conserved temporal dynamics and vectorsuperposition of primitives in frog wiping re flexes during spontaneousextensor deletions. Neurocomputing 32-33:775-783
Giszter SF Moxon KA Rybak I Chapin JK (2000) A neurobiological perspectiveon design of humanoid robots and their components IEEE IntelligentSystems 15(4): 64-69
Giszter, S.F.,Loeb E., Mussa-Ivaldi F.A. and Bizzi E. (2000) Densemapping of frog lumbar spinal cord: organization of force and muscle use.Human Movement Science 19 :597-626
Giszter1 Simon F., and Kargo William J,(2001) Modeling of dynamic contr olsin the frog wiping reflex: force-field level controls. Neurocomputing.38-40:1239-1247
Giszter SF (2001) Quantization of motor drive into time-frequency atomsusing independent component analysis and matching
pursuit algorithms 2001Proceedi ngs IEEE/EMBS
Istanbul
Giszter, S. F., Moxon, K. A., Rybak, I. A., and Chapin, J. K. (2000) A neurobiological perspective on humanoid robot design. IEEE Intelligent Systems 15: 64-69
Refereed Chapters:
Giszter, S.F., Bizzi, E. and Mussa-Ivaldi,
F.A. (1992) Motor organizationin the frog's spinal
cord. In: F.H. Eckman and C.D. Deno (Eds.),Analysis and Modelling of Neural Systems. Kluwer
Press, Moffett Field,CA.Giszter,
S.F., Bizzi, E. and Mussa-Ivaldi,
F.A. (1992) Movement primitivesin the frog's spinal
cord. In: F.H. Eckman and C.D. Deno (Eds.),Neural Systems. Kluwer Press,
Giszter, S.F. , Davies MR, and Kargo WJ (2000) P erspective. Augmentingpostural primitives in spinal cord: Dynamic force-field structures usedin trajectory generation.Ch 25 pp 334-346 in Biomechanics andNeural control of Movement. ed. Winters and Crago. Springer-Verlag.
Giszter SF Gri
ll W Lemay M Mushahwar V
and Prochazka A (2000) Intraspinalmicrostimulation:
techniques, perspectives and prospects for
Giszter, S. F. and Kargo WJ (2000) Movement organization in the frogspinal cord: Prerational intelligence? pp 323-342 In Pre-rational intelligence: Adaptive Behavior and Intelligent Systems withoutSymbols and Logic- Volume 1. Ed. H. Cruse, J Dean, and H Ritter. Studiesin Cognitive Systems series. Kluwer Academic Press
In press:
Motor Control. In
Workshop on artificial Neuroethology. D McFarlandand O Holland.
Giszter SF Biomechanical primitives and he terarchical control in tetrapodlocomotion. In Neurotechnology for biomimetic robots ed Ayers J RudolphA and Davis J MIT Press
Invited Chapters:
Giszter, S.F., Mussa-Ivaldi, F.A. and Bizzi, E. (1991) Equilibriumpoint mechanisms i n the spinal frog. In: M. Arbib and J.P. Ewert(Eds.), Visual Structures and Integrated Functions. Plenum, N.Y.
Mussa-Ivaldi, F.A., Giszter, S.F. and Bizzi, E. (1991) Motor?spacecoding in the central nervous system. 55th Cold Spring Harbo r Symp. onQuantitative Biology, The Brain.
Giszter, S.F., Mussa-Ivaldi, F.A. and Bizzi, E. (1992) The organizationof limb motor space in the spinal frog. in Experimental Brain ResearchSeries. vol 22: Control of arm movement in space.Giszter, S.F. (1994) Conceptual issues in frog wiping behaviors. In: Handbook of Brain Theory and Modelling. ed. M. Arbib.
Chapter in proceedings of Sensorimotor Integration Workshop,
In press:
Giszter SF Motor primitives Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks(2nd ed) MIT Press
Website maintained by: Arun Ramakrishnan
Website last updated: 2008