Boakye Lab Research Areas
Neuroplasticity And Neurophysiology
Spinal Cord Injury
We are currently looking at sensorimotor plasticity after spinal cord injury using a variety of techniques including FMRI, TMS, EEG and somatosensory evoked potentials. Other projects include:
- Development of methods to probe spinal physiology after injury
- Treadmill training and locomotion after injury
- Epidural stimulation after spinal cord injury
- Variability of recovery after spinal cord injury
- Physiological methods of evaluating severity of injuries and monitoring outcomes after spinal cord injury
- Modulation of spinal and brain plasticity using noninvasive peripheral and magnetic stimulation
- Diffusion tensor imaging in acute spinal cord injury-prediction of injury severity and outcomes and electrophysiological correlates
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Studies
- Modulation of D and I waves after TMS
- Mechanisms of generation of afferent inhibition in the nervous system
- Role of somatosensory system in motor recovery
- Genetic polymorphisms and plasticity after central nervous system injuries
Stanford Neurosurgical Outcomes Research Center &Lab (SNORCL)
The main goals of this section is to evaluate neurosurgical outcomes using the Stanford Stride inpatient database, Palo Alto VA Hospital inpatient databases, Nationwide VA and Non-VA hospital, Medicare, and State databases and Cancer registries. Ongoing projects include analysis of lumbar and cervical stenosis and spinal metastases treatment and outcomes. Other projects include examination of safety and effectiveness of cutting-edge spinal technologies such as bone morphogenic protein, X-STOP interspinous process decompression, and artificial disc replacement. A variety of statistical software including SAS, Stata, R, S plus, DTReg, and Treeage are used to perform multivariate analysis, predictive modeling, cost effectiveness, cost utility analysis and economic analysis of spinal surgery.
