J. Grau has studied a variety of topics in the area of
learning, stress and perception. As an undergraduate,
he worked with Dr. Steve Maier at University of Colorado,
helping to demonstrate that uncontrollable stress sensitizes
the endogenous opioid system. Studies with Drs. R. Rescorla
and D. Kemler-Nelson at the University of Pennsylvania
explored the way which different types of stimuli (contexts,
CSs, and auditory dimensions) interact. With Drs. M.
Meagher and M. Gallagher at UNC, he began to examine
the neural structures that modulate pain. These studies
showed that distinct rules govern the activation of opioid
and nonopioid pain inhibitory systems within the spinal
cord, brainstem and forebrain. Further research with
M. Meagher, P. Illich, T. King and E. Crown showed that
mild stressors can sensitize the organism to painful
stimuli and that different behavioral systems may be
affected in opposite ways.
More recently, his research
has focused on spinal cord plasticity. Early studies
with M. Meagher, J. Salinas, P. Illich and R. Joynes
showed that spinal mechanisms are sensitive to stimulus-stimulus
(Pavlovian relations). In 1998, Grau, Barstow and Joynes
provided evidenced that spinal mechanisms are also sensitive
to response-outcome (instrumental relations). Current
studies are examining the neurobiological mechanisms
that underlie this learning and the relevance of this work
to the recovery of function after spinal cord injury.
Past students contributing to this work include Drs.
R. Joynes (Kent), E. Crown (UTMB) and A. Ferguson (OSU).
Current
work is co-supervised by Drs. R. Miranda (Assoc. Prof.,
Neurosci. and Experimental Therapeutics) and M.
Hook (Asst. Res. Scientist, Psychology). The
research team includes Dr. K. Baumbauer and 4 graduate
students (S. Washburn, D. Puga, R. Huie, and K. Hoy).
For additional information about our research, see About
GrauLab.
