{"id":1774,"date":"2021-09-13T17:25:01","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T14:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/biophysics\/?page_id=1774"},"modified":"2025-08-20T15:52:24","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T12:52:24","slug":"petros-group","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/biophysics\/petros-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Neuromuscular Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Principal investigator<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/uefconnect.uef.fi\/en\/person\/petro.julkunen\/\">Petro Julkunen<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Senior researchers &amp; postdocs<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/uefconnect.uef.fi\/en\/person\/laura.saisanen\/\">Laura S\u00e4is\u00e4nen<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/uefconnect.uef.fi\/en\/person\/jusa.reijonen\/\">Jusa Reijonen<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Nils Danner<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/uefconnect.uef.fi\/en\/person\/amir.esrafilian\/\">Amir Esrafilian<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/uefconnect.uef.fi\/en\/person\/paavo.vartiainen\/\">Paavo Vartiainen<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Doctoral researchers<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/uefconnect.uef.fi\/en\/person\/dao.nguyen\/\">Dao Ngyuen<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/uefconnect.uef.fi\/en\/person\/zunaira.jamil\/\">Zunaira Jamil<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/uefconnect.uef.fi\/en\/person\/michal.demjan\/\">Michal Demjan<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/biophysics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/87\/2024\/02\/Neuromodulation.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/biophysics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/87\/2024\/02\/Neuromodulation.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/biophysics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/87\/2024\/02\/Neuromodulation-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/biophysics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/87\/2024\/02\/Neuromodulation-768x384.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Neuronavigated transcranial magnetic stimulation, where a coil is used to target quickly changing magnetic field onto the cortex of the brain to induce electric field, which in turn activates the neurons of the cortex. Consequenly, muscle contraction may follow the stimulation. Activation of the cortical neurons can be modelled and studied. When mapping the cortical representation of a muscle, electric field modeling can be utilized to quantify the representation size and location.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Overview<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>The human motor function is controlled by the brain, which sensitively adjusts the excitability of muscle based on the requirements for motor action in those muscles. Neural plasticity is utilized to optimize the activation capacity of muscles during development\/impairment of the motor functions and after a trauma. Method for individual assessment of neural reserves available for recruitment through neural plasticity is not available, even though such method would have significant impact on prognostics and the targeting of treatment routines in various diseases and conditions e.g., stroke, epilepsy, after knee surgery, etc. The neuromuscular assessment benefits are extended to understanding basic neurophysiological phenomena and longitudinal adaptations of human motor function. Theoretical assessment of changes in motor function provide insight to the mechanisms responsible for and reactive to changes in the requirements of motor action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our research focuses on the functional imaging, theoretical assessment and biomechanical measurement of the neuromuscular function connecting the human brains to motion. Our main focus is in the quantitative analysis motor function, and motor cortical control of muscle action. Our group develops, improves and utilizes novel methods for assessment of human motor function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The key methods we apply and develop are navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation, electromyography, modeling of neural function, motion analysis, imaging and biomechanical tests and modeling. We active collaboration with other national and international research groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Methods<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/uefconnect.uef.fi\/en\/group\/neuromodulation-research-group\/\">Navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation and modeling of TMS<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/humea\/humea-laboratory\/human-motion-and-performance-analysis\/\">Motion analysis<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/biophysics\/functional-imaging\/\">Functional imaging<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/biophysics\/biomechanics-and-modeling\/\">Biomechanics and modeling<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Funding<\/h4>\n\n\n    <div class=\"funders grid\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aka.fi\/en\/\" class=\"funders__link grid__item hover-scale-down\" title=\"Research Council of Finland\">\n                            <div class=\"funders__image\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/biophysics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/87\/2023\/12\/research-council-of-finland-logo-horizontal-16-10.jpg\" alt=\"Research Council of Finland\" \/>\n                <\/div>\n                                    <p class=\"funders__description\">Research Council of Finland<\/p>\n                                                    <div class=\"funders__arrow\">\n                    <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" height=\"25px\" viewBox=\"0 -960 960 960\" width=\"24px\" ><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M200-120q-33 0-56.5-23.5T120-200v-560q0-33 23.5-56.5T200-840h280v80H200v560h560v-280h80v280q0 33-23.5 56.5T760-120H200Zm188-212-56-56 372-372H560v-80h280v280h-80v-144L388-332Z\"\/><\/svg>                    <\/div>\n                <\/a>\n                            \n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cancersociety.fi\/\" class=\"funders__link grid__item hover-scale-down\" title=\"Cancer Society of Finland\">\n                            <div class=\"funders__image\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/biophysics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/87\/2024\/02\/CancerSociety.png\" alt=\"Cancer Society of Finland\" \/>\n                <\/div>\n                                    <p class=\"funders__description\">Cancer Society of Finland<\/p>\n                                                    <div class=\"funders__arrow\">\n                    <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" height=\"25px\" viewBox=\"0 -960 960 960\" width=\"24px\" ><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M200-120q-33 0-56.5-23.5T120-200v-560q0-33 23.5-56.5T200-840h280v80H200v560h560v-280h80v280q0 33-23.5 56.5T760-120H200Zm188-212-56-56 372-372H560v-80h280v280h-80v-144L388-332Z\"\/><\/svg>                    <\/div>\n                <\/a>\n                            \n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.orion.fi\/en\/science\/\" class=\"funders__link grid__item hover-scale-down\" title=\"Orion Research Foundation\">\n                            <div class=\"funders__image\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/biophysics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/87\/2024\/02\/Orion_Logo_Blue_RGB-1-360x138-1.png\" alt=\"Orion Research Foundation\" \/>\n                <\/div>\n                                    <p class=\"funders__description\">Orion Research Foundation<\/p>\n                                                    <div class=\"funders__arrow\">\n                    <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" height=\"25px\" viewBox=\"0 -960 960 960\" width=\"24px\" ><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M200-120q-33 0-56.5-23.5T120-200v-560q0-33 23.5-56.5T200-840h280v80H200v560h560v-280h80v280q0 33-23.5 56.5T760-120H200Zm188-212-56-56 372-372H560v-80h280v280h-80v-144L388-332Z\"\/><\/svg>                    <\/div>\n                <\/a>\n                            \n                        <div class=\"funders__item grid__item\">\n                            <div class=\"funders__image\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\" alt=\"\" \/>\n                <\/div>\n                                                <\/div>\n                        \n            <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Principal investigator Senior researchers &amp; postdocs Doctoral researchers Overview The human motor function is controlled by the brain, which sensitively adjusts the excitability of muscle based on the requirements for motor action in those muscles. Neural plasticity is utilized to optimize the activation capacity of muscles during development\/impairment of the motor functions and after a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":629,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1774","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Neuromuscular Research - Biophysics Research Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.uef.fi\/biophysics\/petros-group\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Neuromuscular Research - Biophysics Research Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Principal investigator Senior researchers &amp; postdocs Doctoral researchers Overview The human motor function is controlled by the brain, which sensitively adjusts the excitability of muscle based on the requirements for motor action in those muscles. 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