Center for Respiratory Research and Rehabilitation

Director: Gordon Mitchell, Ph.D
Department: Physical Therapy
Phone: (352) 273-6107
Web: http://crrr.phhp.ufl.edu/

The University of Florida Center for Respiratory Research is a multi-disciplinary collaboration established in 2015 to advance the understanding and treatment of neuromuscular disorders that compromise respiratory and related non-respiratory movements. The Center mission is to create a world-renowned program devoted to understanding physiological challenges to respiratory motor control in health and disease, and to translate our knowledge into strategies of respiratory rehabilitation in devastating clinical disorders that compromise breathing, including spinal cord injury, neuromuscular diseases (muscular dystrophy, Pompe disease, ALS and others), Parkinson’s Disease, stroke, and other clinical disorders that compromise breathing.

The UF respiratory community is particularly strong in three key areas: respiratory neurobiology, respiratory muscle function, and translational research in human clinical disorders. Currently, we focus on the following clinical disorders: spinal cord injury (SCI), motor neuron disease (ALS), muscular dystrophy (MD), Pompe Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and stroke. The Center offers collaborating scientists opportunities for training in lab procedures, grant-writing, and oral dissemination, participation in local and national sponsored seminars, and the use of core facilities and equipment. Current core equipment includes rodent ventilatory measurements and respiratory muscle EMG telemetry, human intermittent hypoxia exposure systems, and equipment to measure a range of physiological functions.