Talks and Meetings

Upcoming Local Talks

• February 5, 2008
  Seminar by Blair Calancie:
  Ambulation Training in Persons with Chronic Spinal Cord Injury
  SFU Department of Kinesiology at 11:30 am
  Abstract: There is increasing evidence that step-training in lower mammals (e.g. rat and cat) whose spinal cord has been transected at a mid-thoracic level leads to 'activity-dependent' plasticity within neural circuits of the isolated lumbosacral spinal cord, and enhancement of the intrinsic 'central pattern generator' for walking. A number of treatment centers have incorporated this concept into the rehabilitation of persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). This presentation will provide a brief overview of the evidence for a central pattern generator in the human spinal cord, followed by results from our own randomized clinical study into the effects of 3 different forms of step training on walking ability in persons with chronic (> 1 year) and neurologically-incomplete spinal cord injury.
  

Upcoming Conferences/Symposia

June 2008

• June 19-22, 2008
  American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) Annual Meeting
  Loews Coronado Bay Resort
  San Diego, California
  More information is available on the ASIA website.
  
  
• June 25-28
  Spinal Cord: Function, Repair and Rehabilitation after Injury
  Omni Mont-Royal Hotel
  Montreal, Quebec
  The Multidisciplinary Team in Locomotor Rehabilitation after spinal injury and stroke (Strategic Initiative of the CIHR) will be the host of the spinal cord meeting on June 25-26, 2008 at Omni Mont-Royal Hotel in Montreal. The meeting is organized by Dr Serge Rossignol, Dr. Michael Fehlings and Dr John Steeves and follows the first edition held in Banff, in March 2006. The objective of the scientific program is to discuss recent advances in spinal cord research in Canadian laboratories from basic sciences to clinical applications. Five thematic sessions will cover spinal cord functions, spinal plasticity, imaging, regeneration and repair of spinal damage and innovative techniques in rehabilitation. Twenty invited speakers have agreed to present their work and integrate them into the broader context of their research area. Two (2) plenary lectures will be given by Dr. Suzanne Harkema, University of Louisville, KY, USA and Dr. James Fawcett, University of Cambridge, England.
  
  Call for Abstract and Registration is now open!
  Deadline for poster abstract submission April 14, 2008
  Deadline for registration May 19, 2008
  A limited number of travel awards for graduate students, postdoctoral fellow and clinical residents in training will be also offered based on their abstract.
  To learn more, please visit the meeting's website by clicking here.

August 2008

• August 29 - September 3, 2008
  47th International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) Annual Scientific Meeting
  Durban, South Africa
  Please visit the ISCOS website to learn more.

November 2008

• November 6-8, 2008
  3rd National Spinal Cord Injury Conference and the 16th Interurban Spinal Cord Injury Conference
  The Toronto Rehabilitation Institute is pleased to announce the 3rd National Spinal Cord Injury Conference and the 16th Interurban Spinal Cord Injury Conference to be held as one national event on Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation: Innovation, Impact and Future Directions at the Hilton Toronto Hotel on November 6, 7, 8, 2008.
  Click here to learn more from the TRI website.

Upcoming Workshops