James Grau PhD

James William Grau is a Professor in the Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, United States. Dr. Grau’s research has focused on a number of topics, including learning, pain modulation, and the recovery of function after spinal cord injury. One line of work has examined whether lower-level neural systems within the spinal cord can learn. His work has provided evidence that neurons within the spinal cord are sensitive to both temporal and behavioral relations. Interestingly, this learning appears to involve many of the same neurochemical systems that mediate learning and memory within the brain. More recently, his laboratory has been exploring the implications of these studies for the recovery of function after neural injury. Current research has shown that pain input after an injury can increase tissue loss, undermine the recovery of function, and foster the development of chronic pain. Funded by both the Neilsen Foundation and NIH, his laboratory is seeking new treatments to promote recovery and treat pain after an injury.