Human Spinal Physiology Unit - Division of Intramural Research

 Mary Kay   Floeter  M.D., Ph.D., Senior Clinician

Dr. Floeter received her MD and PhD at Washington University in St. Louis and completed residency training in Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. After postdoctoral work at UCSF, she came to NIH as a senior staff fellow in the Laboratory of Neural Control to study mammalian spinal cord circuits controlling movement. She joined the EMG section as a clinical associate in Clinical Neurophysiology three years later and has served as Chief of the NINDS EMG Section since 1996 and as the NINDS Deputy Clinical Director since 2006. Dr. Floeter’s recent research is directed toward analyzing changes in motor neurons and spinal circuits in patients with disorders that disrupt the corticospinal motor system.

Laboratory Staff

Laura Danielian, M.S., Biomedical Engineer , 301-496- 7428
Nobue Iwata, M.D., Ph.D., Fellow , 301-496- 7428
Justin  Kwan, M.D., Senior Clinical Fellow , 301-496- 7428

Research Interests

The human spinal physiology unit studies how descending motor systems use spinal cord circuitry to produce simple movements, with a long-term vision of using spinal circuits to restore useful movements to patients with neurological disorders that disrupt corticospinal connections.

Clinical Protocols

Screening: Muscle Stiffness  01-N-0145

Collection of Blood Samples for DNA analysis in Motor Neuron Disorders  06-N-0224

Spasticity: Physiological Studies  01-N-0148

Cortical function in Primary Lateral Sclerosis and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis  06-N-0174

Selected Recent Publications

Bai O, Lin P, Vorbach S, Floeter MK, Hattori N, Hallett M.
A high performance sensorimotor beta rhythm-based brain-computer interface associated with human natural motor behavior. - J Neural Eng.  5(1) 24-35 2008

Lupu VD, Danielian L, Johnsen JA, Vasconcelos OM, Prokhorenko OA, Jabbari B, Campbell WW, Floeter MK.
Physiology of the motor cortex in polio survivors. - Muscle Nerve  37(2) 177-82 2008

Bai O, Vorbach S, Hallett M, Floeter MK.
Movement-related cortical potentials in primary lateral sclerosis - Ann Neurol   59 682-690 2006

Floeter MK, Zhai P, Saigal R, Kim Y, Statland J.
Motor neuron firing dysfunction in spastic patients with primary lateral sclerosis. - J Neurophysiology  94 919-927 2005

Lin JZ, Floeter MK.
Do F-wave measurements detect changes in motor neuron excitability? - Muscle Nerve  30 289-94 2004

Perez M, Field-Fote E, Floeter MK
Patterned sensory stimulation induces plasticity in reciprocal Ia inhibition in humans - J Neuroscience  23 2014-8 2003

Selected Earlier Publications

Contact Information

Human Spinal Physiology Unit Medical Neurology Branch, NINDS  Building 10-CRC, Room 7-5680  10 Center Drive, MSC 1404 Bethesda MD  20892-1404

Telephone: 301-496- 7428 (office), 301- 496-7428 (laboratory), 301-402- 8796 (fax), Email: FloeterM@ninds.nih.gov