Under the new grant, the Pepper Center will be reorganized into five core research areas: clinical & translational research methods; neuromotor function; applied clinical physiology; muscle biology & molecular mechanisms of inflammation; and biostatistics & informatics. “These core areas will support other NIH-funded research projects focused on stroke, hip fractures and exercise and weight loss as they relate to obesity and type 2 diabetes,” says Dr. Goldberg. “We also plan to develop a battery of tests to precisely characterize disability in a large sample of older adults to determine the biological mechanisms underlying physical and functional impairments. As a result, the Pepper Center will design customized rehabilitation programs that target the functional and physiological mechanisms causing disability.”

During the last decade, one major Pepper Center research project involved task-oriented treadmill exercise training. The focus of this research was to train individuals with stroke who had impaired leg movement to gradually regain ambulatory function, resulting in increased blood flow and activation of the brain that caused improvements in motor function. Participants also demonstrated a decrease in key cardiovascular risk factors, including glucose intolerance and insulin resistance. A second stroke-related study involved upper extremity training using bilateral arm training with rhythmic auditory cueing. Participants demonstrated improved arm function due to increased brain activation, an indication that neural adaptations in the brain are possible even years after a stroke.


The Pepper Center’s facilities are based in the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Departments of Medicine, Neurology, Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences, Epidemiology & Preventive Medicine and the Baltimore VA Medical Center’s Geriatric Research, Educational and Clinical Center. Since establishing the center, investigators have developed strong research collaborations with scientists in the Department of Neurology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the Hertie Brain Research Institute in Germany, the Neumann Robotics Engineering Facility at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the National Institutes of Health’s Physical Disabilities Branch and National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research.

“Investigators at the Pepper Center are confident that the strong, collaborative research team and resources provided by the National Institute on Aging will lead to novel rehabilitation strategies that will improve the function and lifestyle of older Americans living with disability,” says Dr. Goldberg.

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