Spotlight: Olivia Wireman (Bodart)
Olivia’s project in the Gensel lab seeks to address bowel dysfunction after spinal cord injury (SCI), an urgent concern of the spinal cord injured population. Constipation is a common comorbidity associated with spinal cord injury, leading to episodes of autonomic dysreflexia, impaction, and even hospitalization. Olivia’s work seeks to understand the etiology of this condition at the level of the colon, utilizing well-established histological and molecular techniques in the Gensel Lab to branch into this new area of study. The goal of this study is to characterize the effect of SCI on the colon and identify targets to ameliorate this dysfunction.