Starkey, Michelle, Dr.

Michelle Starkey did her Bachelor’s in Biological Sciences at the University of Oxford, UK. She then studied for her Master’s at University College London, UK. During her Master’s her research interest was the biological signalling molecules, Ephrins and Ephs, and their role in neuronal sprouting following injury. For her PhD at King’s College London, UK, Michelle researched various strategies to promote repair and recovery after spinal cord injury. In particular, she focussed on the use of Chondroitinase ABC, an enzyme that digests inhibitory components of the glial scar, to enhance anatomical plasticity in the spinal cord following injury. She also investigated the expression pattern of a novel marker of regenerating fibres.
After finishing her PhD Michelle moved to Zurich for a postdoc position at the University of Zurich/ETH Zurich. During this postdoc she investigated spontaneous, anatomical plasticity following stroke, as well as rehabilitative training techniques to promote functional and anatomical recovery of the upper limb following spinal cord injury.
In August 2011 Michelle joined the Spinal Cord Injury Research lab at Balgrist University Hospital. In the lab her research interests are investigating novel rehabilitative training devices for the upper limb recovery following human spinal cord injury.

• Starkey ML, Bartus K, Barritt AW, Bradbury EJ. (2012) Chondroitinase ABC promotes compensatory sprouting of the intact corticospinal tract and recovery of forelimb function following unilateral pyramidotomy in adult mice. Eur J Neurosci. 2012: 36(12; 3665-78.
• Starkey ML, Bleul C, Zörner B, Lindau NT, Mueggler T, Rudin M, Schwab ME. (2012) Back seat driving: hindlimb corticospinal neurons assume forelimb control following ischemic stroke. Brain 2012: 135; 3265–3281
• Dominici N, Keller U, Vallery H, Friedli L, van den Brand R, Starkey ML, Musienko P, Riener R, Courtine G. (2012) Novel robotic interface to evaluate, enable, and train locomotion and balance after neuromotor disorders. Nat Med. 2012 Jul;18(7):1142-7. doi: 10.1038/nm.2845.  
• Rudhe C, Albisser U, Starkey ML, Curt A, Bolliger M. (2012) Reliability of Movement Workspace Measurements in a Passive Arm Orthosis used in Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation. J Neuroeng Rehabil. 2012 Jun 9;9:37. doi: 10.1186/1743-0003-9-37.
• Ghosh A, Peduzzi S, Snyder M, Schneider R, Starkey M, Schwab ME, (2011) Heterogeneous spine loss in layer 5 cortical neurons after spinal cord injury. Cereb Cortex. 2012 Jun;22(6):1309-17. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhr191. Epub 2011 Aug 11.

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