NCAN is one of 29 NIBIB/NIH Biomedical Technology Resource Centers in the US. Our mission is: to create neurotechnologies that guide nervous system plasticity and use them to answer basic scientific questions and create new rehabilitation therapies; to define the mechanisms of this plasticity and translate this knowledge into powerful new therapies; and to provide training and dissemination that encourages and enables other scientists, engineers, and clinicians to develop and use neurotechnologies scientifically and clinically.
NCAN researchers and their collaborators pioneered reflex operant conditioning protocols that target beneficial neuroplasticity to critical CNS sites. They are translating into clinical use these protocols and other Targeted Neuroplasticity Protocols (TNPs). By improving function at a critical site, these protocols can trigger widespread beneficial plasticity that restores important sensorimotor behaviors such as walking and reaching.
More information about NCAN can be found HERE.