Science Researcher Update: Spotlight on Meetings, Conferences, and Events

Successful execution of voluntary movements relies on the functional integration of several parts of the CNS (e.g. M1, dorsal and ventral premotor areas, the supplementary motor area) that produce descending signals destined to the spinal interneurons and motoneurons. An additional factor compounding the difficulty of deciphering the nature of descending motor activities is the fact that the CNS needs to coordinate the actions of a large number of muscles with thousands of motor units in the limbs for even the simplest movements. How the motor system coordinate the activations of the muscles has remained obscure. Presumably, the CNS copes with this apparent difficulty of controlling movements by a certain simplified control strategy. Several scientists have put forward the hypothesis that descending cortical signals represent neuronal drives which select, activate and combine, in a flexible way, spinal cord modules expressing robust muscle synergies. Different motor behaviours then emerge as different synergies are recruited to different degrees of activation.
This international workshop aim to introduce a constructive debate on the current state of the art on the mechanisms regulating muscle synergies for motor behaviour. Eminent scientists in the field are invited to enlighten the best evidence available in basic science, clinical applications and technical developments implicated with the idea of muscle synergies.

Organization: IRCCS Fondazione Ospedale San Camillo

(Courtesy of Centro Unico Prenotazioni IRCCS Ospedale San Camillo Lido di Venezia, via

ospedalesancamillo.net)

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON MUSCLE SYNERGIES