Corey B. Hart, Ph.D. - Faculty - Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy

Corey B. Hart, Ph.D.
Instructor, Dept. Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine
Email: corey.hart@drexelmed.edu

Neural control of movement

Biography

Dr. Corey B. Hart received his Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. He did his first postdoctoral training with Dr. Simon F. Giszter at Drexel University College of Medicine. He is currently research faculty in the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy at Drexel University College of Medicine.

Research and Interest

• Neural circuitry underlying motor control
• Statistical mechanics of spinal interneurons
• Information theoretic approaches to understanding neural signal processing

Research Summary

The simplification of the complex constraints imposed by orderly movement poses a fundamental difficulty for the neural control of movement. Every movement represents a potential search problem for the nervous system: it must determine which combination of joints/muscles to use in order to effect a particular task. Complicating this picture is the problem of the serial ordering of behavior. Reducing the size of the space the nervous system must search for a solution represents one potential strategy. Modularity, or the re-use of functional and structural motor strategies within a variety of behavioral contexts can help reduce the size of this space. Behavioral modules may then be deployed in the context of a sort of motor grammar to simplify the serial ordering problem.

Dr. Hart is currently attempting to identify the neural basis of modular motor patterns in the bullfrog spinal cord, explore the statistical rules governing transitions from one motor pattern to another in sequenced movements, and assemble a grammar of such transitions. He is also interested in determining/describing the evolutionary stability of such modular schemes. Information theoretic analysis of electrophysiological recordings, pharmacologic manipulation of feedback and glycinergic inhibition, as well as computer models of motor control are integrated and deployed toward these ends. This program has strong implications for the treatment of spinal cord injury and the development of usable neural prosthetic technology.

Selected Publications

Giszter S.F. and Hart, C.B. (2011), Biomimetic control for redundant and high degree of freedom limb systems: neurobiological modularity Smart Structures and Systems 7(3)

Hart, C.B. and Giszter S.F. (2010), Response to Delis, I., Chiovetto, E., and Berret B., (2010) On the origins of modularity in motor control. J Neurosci. 30(22):7451-7452

Hart, C.B. and Giszter S.F. (2010) A Neural Basis for Motor Primitives in the Spinal Cord.. J Neurosci. 30(4):1322-36

Giszter, S.F. ,Hart C.B., Silfies S., (2010) Spinal cord modularity, its origins in evolution and motor development, and its possible relevance to low back pain in man. Experimental Brain Research 200(3-4):283-306

Silfies, SP, Hart C, Cannella, M, Giszter, SF (2009) Task-Independent and Task Specific Trunk Muscle Synergies are Recruited In Bending and Reaching. Proceedings of the XIX Conference of the International Society for Posture & Gait Research, Bologna, Italy, p 285-6.

Giszter S.F., Patil V and Hart C.B. (2007) Primitives, Premotor Drives and Pattern Generation: a combined Computational and Neuroethological Perspective. Prog. Brain Res. 165:325-349

Giszter S.F., Hart C.B., Udoekwere U.I., Markin S., and Barbe C. (2005) A real-time system for small animal neurorobotics at spinal or cortical levels. Neural Engineering. Conference Proceedings, 2nd International IEEE EMBS Conference on March 16-19, pgs. 450-453.

Hart, C.B. and Giszter S.F. (2004) Modular Premotor Drives and Unit Bursts as Primitives for Frog Motor Behaviors. J Neurosci. Jun 2;24(22):5269-82

Dear SP, and Hart CB., (1999) Evidence for neural wavelet packet computations. Neurocomputing 26-27: 655-661

Dear, S.P. and Hart, C.B. (1999) Synchronized Cortical Potentials and Wavelet Packets: A Potential Mechanism for Perceptual Binding and Conveying Information. Brain and Language, 66(1):201-31

Chen, Tar-pin, Yang, X, Sourivong, P., Kamimura, K., Viescas, A.J., C. J. Chen, Y., Curley, J.D., Phares D.J., Hall H. E., Dayton, P. A., Hart, C.B., and Wang, J. T., (1996) Fabrication, Superconducting Tc and Charge Transfer of VNx, NbNx and TaNx Foils. Phys. Lett. A, 217:167

Teaching Interests

Science Education for Urban and Underserved Communities

Interdisciplinary Approaches to Biology

Communication and Information in Biology

Statistics for Biology

Teaching

Statistics for Neuro/Pharm Research (NEUR 500S-05) Spring 2012, Spring 2009, Spring 2008 Drexel University College of Medicine.

PIL (case-based learning) Medical Student Curriculum, Motor Cortex and Motor Integration Unit. Fall 2011, Drexel University College of Medicine.

Biomedical Graduate Core Curriculum II, Integrated Systems Unit, Spring 2011, Drexel University College of Medicine.

Topics in Neurobiology (NEUR 608) Fall 2008, Spring 2009, Fall 2009,Spring 2010,Fall 2010,Spring 2011, Fall 2011 Drexel University College of Medicine.

Advanced Cellular and System Neuroscience (Information Theory Module), Spring 2010, Drexel University College of Medicine.



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