Richard Dyck

My major research interest are focussed on the development and plasticity of the cerebral cortex. The organization of the cerebral cortex is not fixed, but rather, is continuously modified by experience throughout an animal's lifetime (e.g. sensory inputs, learning, drugs/hormones, injury, etc.). My research activities are directed towards identifying the processes that are responsible for mediating experience-dependent plasticity in the cerebral cortex using cellular, molecular and behavioural approaches. I am currently engaged in two research programmes that address different facets of these issues. The first examines the contribution of zinc, and neurons that release zinc, to the plasticity and functional compartmentation of somatosensory and visual cortex. In the second, I am using mutant and transgenic mice to investigate molecular and cellular mechanisms responsible for neuronal regrowth and functional recovery following stroke and/or traumatic brain injury induced in the developing brain.