Dr. Michelle Corkrum Awarded NIH Grant to Advance Research in Pediatric Stroke Recovery

Columbia Child Neurology Resident and member of the WFCPC’s Movement Recovery Lab, Michelle Corkrum, MD, PhD, has been awarded a UE5 Research Education Programs for Residents & Fellows grant by the National Institutes of Health. Starting in January 2026, the $103,000 award will support her work investigating how sensory circuits influence skilled movement recovery after neonatal stroke. It continues her focus on neuromodulation and targeted strategies to improve outcomes for children with early brain injuries.

At the Movement Recovery Lab, Dr. Corkrum is investigating how both motor and sensory systems contribute to movement recovery after neonatal stroke — a condition that affects 1-2 in every 1,000 newborns and often leads to lifelong motor difficulties. Her project began with a clinical observation: children with damage to their sensory systems tended to have more severe movement difficulties than those with motor system damage alone. To investigate this, she and her colleagues used animal models to study sensory injuries in isolation. Their results showed that even damage to the sensory system alone can interfere with movement, suggesting that sensory systems are more involved in skilled movement than previously thought.

In her current project, Dr. Corkrum will use animal models of perinatal stroke to see if manipulating sensory circuits changes movement outcomes to test the safety and efficacy of treatments prior to applying them to pediatric patients. By applying optogenetic techniques to either activate or inhibit sensory pathways, she hopes to clarify their role in skilled movement and provide a foundation for new therapeutic approaches.  In her work, animal models play a key role in helping her understand how specific sensory systems affect movement. These models allow her to precisely target certain areas of the brain, to study the impact of injury on movement and test promising therapies—like electrical stimulation—in a safe and controlled way before they are used in children recovering from stroke.

We spoke with Dr. Corkrum to learn more about her goals and the future of this research:

1) How does this NIH UE5 grant build upon your earlier studies and training in the Movement Recovery Lab?

In our earlier work at the Movement Recovery Lab, we found that children who had strokes affecting both motor and sensory areas of the brain had more severe movement impairments than those whose strokes only affected motor regions. This led us to explore whether damage to sensory areas alone could also affect movement. In a follow-up study, we showed that early brain injuries disrupting only sensory pathways also resulted in motor impairments. These findings suggest that sensory and motor systems are closely linked in movement recovery after brain injury. With support from this new NIH UE5 grant, I will extend this research by using neuromodulation to selectively activate or inhibit sensory circuits. This approach will help us test whether sensory circuit activity influences movement recovery after neonatal stroke. 

2) What are the main objectives of this research, and how might the findings impact treatment approaches for children after neonatal stroke?

The main goal of this research is to better understand the role of sensory circuits in movement recovery after a stroke, with the ultimate aim of developing effective therapies for children recovering from pediatric strokes. Specifically, we will conduct two sets of experiments. In one, we’ll explore how inactivating sensory circuits affects motor skills after neonatal stroke, and in another, we’ll test how activating sensory circuits influences movement recovery. These experiments will help us determine whether sensory circuits are both necessary and sufficient to support recovery of movement after neonatal stroke.

3) Can you explain how focusing on sensory circuits might change the way we think about promoting movement recovery?

Typically, when we think about movement, we focus on parts of the brain and spinal cord responsible for planning and executing actions. However, skilled movement also relies heavily on sensory circuits, which provide feedback about limb position, ensuring accurate movement execution. This project aims to provide new insights into how engaging sensory circuits after neonatal stroke could open up novel treatment options for improving movement recovery in patients.

4) What are your plans for translating this research into next steps, such as future clinical studies or broader applications?

Looking ahead, I plan to investigate the combined role of motor and sensory circuit activation in promoting movement recovery after pediatric stroke. The ultimate goal is to take the findings from this research and apply them in clinical settings to improve patient care. Specifically, we aim to use non-invasive neuromodulation techniques to target both motor and sensory circuits, helping to enhance movement recovery for children after stroke.      

Recently, Dr. Corkrum was also recognized by her peers with the Niels Low Child Neurology Award. The award reflects her commitment to advancing research and patient care in pediatric neurology as she continues to explore new strategies to improve outcomes for children with early brain injuries.