THE NEURO RECOVERY LAB
Studying Spinal Cord Injury and Plasticity at the University of Alberta
Keith Fenrich, PhD
Contact: fenrich@ualberta.ca
Office Phone: 1 (780) 492-4239
Laboratory: 1 (780) 492-3217
Dr. Keith Fenrich has recently been appointed assistant professor in the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine and is a U of A alumnus, having received a BSc with specialization in pharmacology. He received his PhD in physiology from Queen’s University, after which he did postdoctoral fellowships at the Developmental Biology Institute of Marseille (France) and the U of A. Throughout his career, Dr. Fenrich's research has focused mostly on spinal cord injury using preclinical animal models (SCI), with a particular emphasis on the roles of spinal interneurons in recovery from spinal cord injury, the physiological mechanisms of rehabilitative motor training after spinal cord injury, and developing new research tools and techniques to better study spinal cord injury in animal models.
Scientific Career
2021 - present: Assistant Professor, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta, Canada
2017 - 2021: Research Associate, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Faculty of Rehab Medicine, University of Alberta
2013 - 2017: Post-doctoral fellow, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta, Canada
2010 - 2013: Post-doctoral fellow, Developmental Biology Institute of Marseille, CNRS, France
2009: PhD in Physiology, Queen's University, Canada
Publications
See a list of selected publications here:
Awards
2022-2027: Fenrich KK (principal applicant) and Zhang, Y (co-applicant). The role of propriospinal neurons and their sensory innervation in the recovery of locomotion after spinal cord injury. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant. CAD$1,136,026.
2022-2027: Fenrich KK (principal applicant). Spinal circuits involved in skilled forelimb motor control. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant. CAD$157,500.
2021-2026: Zhang, Y and Fenrich KK (co-applicant). Spinal interneuron subpopulations and modular circuits in normal locomotor control and after spinal cord injury. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant. CAD$1,009,800.
2021-2024: Kerr BJ, Fenrich KK (co-applicant), Kurata HT, Plemel J. Examining inflammatory processes in the DRG as a driver of neuropathic pain in MS. Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada Grant. CAD$ 300,000.
2020-2025: Bennett DJ, Fenrich KK (co-principal applicant), Fouad K, Yang JF. Targeting pericytes to restore sensorimotor function after spinal cord injury. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant. CAD$1,105,425.
2019-2024: Bennett DJ, Fenrich KK (co-principal applicant), Fouad K, Gorassini MA. Role of extrasynaptic GABA in the recovery of motor functional after spinal cord injury. Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant. CAD$1,197,226.
2019-2023: Fouad K and Fenrich KK (co-applicant). When and where to promote neuroplasticity when using targeted treatments following spinal cord injury. Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation. €300,000.
