Jeremy Chopek, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Physiology & Pathophysiology
University of Manitoba
- Accepting Graduate Student
- Not at this time.
- Dr. Chopek’s Brainstem-Spinal Neural Networks for Movement Laboratory
- 406 BMSB
- 204-789-3855
- Research
- Dr. Chopek received his MSc (2009) in Kinesiology and PhD (2014) in the Department of Physiology & Pathophysiology, University of Manitoba under the supervision of Dr. Phillip Gardiner, in the Spinal Cord Research Centre. Dr. Chopek’s work examined how motor circuits were affected following spinal cord injury and exercise by examining alterations in motoneuron biophysical properties, stretch reflexes, gene expression and sensitivity to pharmacological agents.
Dr. Chopek completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Dalhousie University (2014-2018), Department of Medical Neuroscience working with both Dr. Zhang and Dr. Brownstone at University College London. His work has begun to characterize and understand microcircuit formation in both the medulla reticular formation, a centre vital for the initiation of movement and the lumbar spinal cord, the area in which movement is produced. To achieve this, he uses a combination of transgenic mouse lines, optogenetic or photo-manipulation of single cell or whole cell populations, in-vitro electrophysiology, viral tracers and confocal microscopy. To date, he has subdivided the chx10 neuronal population in the brainstem into two distinct cell populations based on their morphology, biophysical properties, connectivity and projection patterns. In addition, he has also found a novel connectivity pattern of the spinal V3 interneuron population, which in addition to forming commissural connections also synapse locally with ipsilateral motoneurons.
Dr. Chopek joined the Department of Physiology & Pathophysiology and the Spinal Cord Research Centre on September 1, 2018.
- Areas of Expertise
- Brainstem-spinal cord in-vitro electrophysiology, neuronal microcircuit formation, optogenetic and photomanipulation, transgenic mouse models, viral tracers, confocal micrscopy, chx10 brainstem neurons, spinal V3 interneurons, in-vivo electrophysiology, spinal cord injury and exercise, stretch reflexes, gene expression.
- Publications
- Search PubMed for publications by Chopek J
- Staff
- Shannon Deschamps, Lab Technician
- Narjes Shahsavani, Lab Technicia
- Lucia Dominguez Rodriguez , Post Doc Fellow
- Trainees
- Camila Chacon, MSc. Student
- Victoria Nwachukwu, MSc. Student
- Muniza Mehrin Zaman, MSc. Student
- Mary Obiechina