This work is performed in collaboration with Dr. Nadine Connor’s Lab through a jointly held grant from the NIH. Swallowing problems in Alzheimer’s Disease cause significant health and quality of life issues. This translational research establishes whether tongue exercise started earlier or later in the disease process significantly improves swallowing function and changes AD-related pathology in tongue muscles and associated brain regions.
Alzheimer's Research
Swallowing dysfunction (dysphagia) is a major consequence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) leads to reduced quality of life, impaired oral intake, caregiver burden, and aspiration pneumonia. Our research is based on the premise that pathology in AD occurs in the central and peripheral nervous systems early in disease progression and that tongue early tongue exercise can potentially change the course of decline. In this work, we use a well-established rat model of AD (TgF344-AD) to assay oropharyngeal swallowing, tongue muscle structure/function (biochemistry, morphology, contractile properties), and swallow-related brain structures for inflammation, amyloidosis, and phosphorylated (reactive) tau. This work provides the necessary control and mechanistic understanding to translate to human studies of early intervention/prevention with the goal of overcoming clinical barriers and optimizing treatment. 
Swallowing Physiology Research: High Resolution Manometry
Swallowing is a critical life function that must be performed safely to ensure adequate nutrition and avoid airway compromise; failure can lead to life threatening complications. This collaboration with Timothy McCulloch, MD, FACS explores developing and implementing pharyngeal high-resolution manometry which is a tool that can detect subtle changes to swallow physiology. For the past 15 years we have comped pHRM with video fluoroscopy, EMG, FEES, and AI methods to study complex swallowing physiology in health in disease. We have developed sophisticated methods for displaying and classifying pressure and timing events along and aerodigestive pathway to allow physicians and speech language pathologists to improve the accuracy of diagnosis and management of swallowing disorders. 
Head and Neck Cancer
Common treatments such as chemotherapy and radiation for head and neck cancer can cause dysphagia, or impaired swallow function, which significantly impacts health and quality of life. While it is known these treatments can lead to dysphagia in approximately 2/3 of patients, the impacts on underlying swallow biomechanics are not well understood. Exercises engaging musculature involved in deglutition may provide benefit related to swallow function both during and after treatment. Under Dr. John Russell’s grant in collaboration with Dr. Michelle Ciucci, the impacts of chemotherapy, radiation, and exercise are explored in the well-established rat model. Utilizing video fluoroscopy and a progressive-resistance tongue training paradigm, assessment of bolus kinematics, bolus area, and tongue force data can help provide meaningful insight into how treatment and exercise may impact swallow function. 