Dr. Marina Martinez received a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of Aix-Marseille, France in 2009. She then pursued postdoctoral studies in Pr. Serge Rossignol’s laboratory, at the University of Montreal, Canada, and then joined the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy in 2014. She was then recruited as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Montreal and as a member of the Centre de Recherche de l'Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur in 2016.
The primary focus of her research is the neural basis of motor recovery after lesions to the central nervous system, in particular spinal cord injuries. Her lab uses animal models and a combination of electrophysiological, behavioural and anatomical techniques to study the link between neuroplasticity mechanisms and functional recovery after spinal cord injury. Rehabilitation strategies aimed at guiding recovery are also developed in her lab.
Her work is funded by the main federal and provincial agencies in addition to several spinal cord injury foundations.
