Publications by Lucia Florinda Friedli Wittler

Cortico–reticulo–spinal circuit reorganization enables functional recovery after severe spinal cord contusion

Bernard Schneider, Léonie Asboth, Grégoire Courtine, Janine Beauparlant, Lucia Florinda Friedli Wittler, Selin Anil, Quentin Barraud, Cristina Martinez Gonzalez, Julie Kreider, Laetitia Danielle Philippine Baud, Mark Andrew Anderson, Galyna Pidpruzhnykova, Elodie Rey, Polina Shkorbatova

Severe spinal cord contusions interrupt nearly all brain projections to lumbar circuits producing leg movement. Failure of these projections to reorganize leads to permanent paralysis. Here we modeled these injuries in rodents. A severe contusion abolished ...

2018

Engagement of the Rat Hindlimb Motor Cortex across Natural Locomotor Behaviors

Silvestro Micera, Grégoire Courtine, Janine Beauparlant, Lucia Florinda Friedli Wittler, Rubia van den Brand, Simone Ellen Joze Duis, Julie Kreider, Jacopo Rigosa

Contrary to cats and primates, cortical contribution to hindlimb locomotor movements is not critical in rats. However, the importance of the motor cortex to regain locomotion after neurological disorders in rats suggests that cortical engagement in hindlim ...

Soc Neuroscience2016

Decoding bipedal locomotion from the rat sensorimotor cortex

Silvestro Micera, Grégoire Courtine, Lucia Florinda Friedli Wittler, Rubia van den Brand, Jacopo Rigosa

Objective. Decoding forelimb movements from the firing activity of cortical neurons has been interfaced with robotic and prosthetic systems to replace lost upper limb functions in humans. Despite the potential of this approach to improve locomotion and fac ...

Institute of Physics2015

Neuroprosthetic rehabilitation and translational mechanism after severe spinal cord injury

Lucia Florinda Friedli Wittler

Traumatic SCIs have long-term health, economic and social consequences, stressing the urgency to develop interventions to improve recovery after such injuries. Today, the only proven effective interventions to enhance recovery after SCI are activity-based ...

EPFL2014

Undirected compensatory plasticity contributes to neuronal dysfunction after severe spinal cord injury

Grégoire Courtine, Janine Beauparlant, Lucia Florinda Friedli Wittler, Rubia van den Brand, Quentin Barraud, Pavel Musienko

Severe spinal cord injury in humans leads to a progressive neuronal dysfunction in the chronic stage of the injury. This dysfunction is characterized by premature exhaustion of muscle activity during assisted locomotion, which is associated with the emerge ...

Oxford University Press2013

Versatile robotic interface to evaluate, enable and train locomotion and balance after neuromotor disorders

Grégoire Courtine, Lucia Florinda Friedli Wittler, Rubia van den Brand, Pavel Musienko

Central nervous system (CNS) disorders distinctly impair locomotor pattern generation and balance, but technical limitations prevent independent assessment and rehabilitation of these subfunctions. Here we introduce a versatile robotic interface to evaluat ...

Nature Publishing Group2012

Restoring Voluntary Control of Locomotion after Paralyzing Spinal Cord Injury

Silvestro Micera, Grégoire Courtine, Lucia Florinda Friedli Wittler, Rubia van den Brand, Quentin Barraud, Kay Alexander Bartholdi, Simone Ellen Joze Duis, Eduardo Martin Moraud, Isabel Laura Vollenweider, Pavel Musienko

Half of human spinal cord injuries lead to chronic paralysis. Here, we introduce an electrochemical neuroprosthesis and a robotic postural interface designed to encourage supraspinally-mediated movements in rats with paralyzing lesions. Despite the interru ...

American Association for the Advancement of Science2012