Matthew Picard-Fraser has been awarded the Outstanding Poster Award at the MGH Institute’s 2024 Research and Scholarship Celebration Day. Picard-Fraser is pursuing his PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences under the guidance of Dr. Teresa Kimberley in Rehabilitation Sciences. His poster is titled “Paired Associative Stimulation as an Assessment of Neuroplasticity: A Pilot Study.”

His research project deals with Paired Associative Stimulation (PAS), which combines pulses of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) with peripheral nerve stimulation in a precisely timed manner to induce neurophysiological changes. The response to PAS may be a key predictor of the effectiveness of interventions that promote motor learning following a stroke, such as Paired Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS). His studies suggest that PAS is a feasible and effective method for assessing baseline capacity for neurological changes in both healthy and impaired populations. PAS can induce transient Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)-like or Long-Term Depression (LTD)-like changes in the motor cortex depending on the interval between the TMS pulse and the peripheral nerve stimulation.

Picard-Fraser's future studies will assess the LTP-like changes in response to PAS in individuals following a stroke and correlate their response to motor improvements following interventions such as Paired VNS. Congratulations to Matthew Picard-Fraser on his outstanding research, and we wish him continued success.