Human Motor Control Section

Photo of Mark Hallett, Human Motor Control Section, NINDS

Mark Hallett, M.D., Senior Investigator
Dr. Hallett obtained his A.B. and M.D. at Harvard University, had his internship in Medicine at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and his Neurology training at Massachusetts General Hospital. He had fellowships in neurophysiology at the NIH and in the Department of Neurology, Institute of Psychiatry in London, where he worked with C. David Marsden. Before coming to NIH in 1984, Dr. Hallett was the Chief of the Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. He is currently Chief of the Medical Neurology Branch and Chief of its Human Motor Control Section. He is now Editor-in-Chief of World Neurology, the newsletter of the World Federation of Neurology and Associate Editor of Brain. He has been President of the Movement Disorder Society and Vice-President of the American Academy of Neurology. Among many awards, in 2005 he won the Movement Disorder Research Award of the American Academy of Neurology and in 2007 he won the Wilhelm-Erb-GedenkmÜnze of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fÜr Neurologie. His research activities focus on the physiology of human voluntary movement and its pathophysiology in disordered voluntary movement and involuntary movement.

Staff:
Staff Photo for Human Motor Control Section HEIGHT=

Francisco Alvarez, Post baccalaureate Fellow alvarezfn@mail.nih.gov
Kemal Bayulkem, M.D., Adjunct Investigator kemal.bayulkem@nih.gov
Beth Belluscio, M.D., Clinical Fellow BelluscB@ninds.nih.gov
Nancy Bowen, Dr.PH, M.P.H, Clinical Research Project Manager nancy_bowen@nih.gov
Mae Brooks, Patient Care Coordinator mae.brooks@nih.gov
June Brown, Program Specialist tolerj@mail.nih.gov
Chi-Chao Chao, M.D., Ph.D., Special Volunteer chaoc2@mail.nih.gov
Elaine Considine, R.N., Nurse considinee@ninds.nih.gov
Kathrin Czarnecki, M.D., Clinical Fellow czarneckik@mail.nih.gov
Nguyet Dang, Biomedical Engineer Nguyet.dang@nih.gov
Pierre Diomi, M.D., Special Volunteer diomipm@mail.nih.gov
Aviva Ellenstein, M.D., Ph.D., Clinical Fellow ellensteina@ninds.nih.gov
Pritha Ghosh, M.D., Clinical Fellow ghoshp2@mail.nih.gov
Dietrich Haubenberger, M.D., Special Volunteer haubenbergerd@ninds.nih.gov
Silvina Horovitz, Ph.D., Staff Scientist horovits@ninds.nih.gov
Sa Yun Kang, M.D., Special Volunteer sayun.kang@nih.gov
Anke Karabanov, Special Volunteer anke.karabanov@nih.gov
Barbara Kimber, Patient Care Coordinator kimberb@ninds.nih.gov
Emily Lines, B.S., Postbaccalaureate IRTA linesel@mail.nih.gov
Codrin Lungu, M.D., Clinical Fellow lunguci@ninds.nih.gov
Bernhard Voller, M.D., Special Volunteer bernhard.voller@nih.gov
Sherry Vorbach, Laboratory Technician sherry.vorbach@nih.gov

Research Interests:

A Graphic

fMRI group data

The general mission of the Human Motor Control Section is to understand the physiology of normal human voluntary movement and the pathophysiology of different movement disorders. The members of the Section work together on the different projects, each bringing special expertise to the tasks. The main techniques employed are transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), electroencephalography (EEG), neuroimaging with positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and other techniques of clinical neurophysiology. The principal diseases studied are dystonia, Parkinson's disease, cerebellar ataxia, myoclonus, essential tremor, tic, psychogenic movement disorders and startle disorders.

In relation to the physiology of movement, we have studied the brain processes associated with the preparation and execution of different types of movements. A special interest now is the process of movement initiation and volition. We have been studying motor learning including the process of making movement automatic.

Dystonia has been the main movement disorder investigated recently. We have found that there are a number of pathophysiological problems including loss of surround inhibition, abnormal plasticity and defective sensory function. We are looking further into the mechanisms of these problems. We have been studying the genesis of tics in patients with Tourette Syndrome. Part of our work is to translate physiological insights into therapies, and we have clinical trials ongoing in Parkinson's disease, dystonia and essential tremor.

Clinical Protocols:

Long-Term Motor Learning in Focal Hand Dystonia 06-N-0161
Investigation of Neurofeedback with Real-time fMRI in Healthy Volunteers and Patients with Hyperkinetic Movement Disorders 09-N-0118
Double-blind, placebo controlled pilot-study of octanoic acid in essential tremor 09-N-0084
Ethanol response in Essential Tremor: clinical and neurophysiological correlates 10-N-0199
Physiological Investigations of Movement Disorders 10-N-0009
Recording and modulation of neuronal mechanisms during operant conditioning: a MEG study 10-N-0003
Evaluation of Tourette's Syndrome with Multimetabolite H-Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy at 3T 02-N-0128
A Training Protocol for the use of Botulinum Toxin in the Treatment of Neurological Disorders 85-N-0195

Selected Publications:

Jin SH, Lin P, Auh S, Hallett M (2011) Abnormal functional connectivity in focal hand dystonia: Mutual information analysis in EEG, Mov Disord. 2011 Jun 26(7), 1274-81.[Epub 2011 Apr 19; doi: 10.1002/mds.23675].
Voon V, Gao J, Brezing C, Symmonds M, Ekanayake V, Fernandez H, Dolan RJ, Hallett M. (2011) Dopamine agonists and risk: impulse control disorders in Parkinson's; disease, Brain. 2011 May 134(Pt 5), 1438-46.
Nahab FB, Wittevrongel L, Ippolito D, Toro C, Grimes GJ, Starling J, Potti G, Haubenberger D, Bowen D, Buchwald P, Dong C, Kalowitz D, Hallett M. (2011) An Open-Label, Single-Dose, Crossover Study of the Pharmacokinetics and Metabolism of Two Oral Formulations of 1-Octanol in Patients with Essential Tremor, Neurotherapeutics. 2011 May 19 , [Epub ahead of print].
Beck S, Hallett M. (2011) Surround inhibition in the motor system, Brain Res. 2011 Apr 210(2), 243-50. Epub 2011 Mar 23..
Benninger DH, Berman BD, Houdayer E, Pal N, Luckenbaugh DA, Schneider L, Miranda S, Hallett M (2011) Intermittent theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation for treatment of Parkinson disease, Neurology. 2011 Feb 15 76(7), 601-9.
Bai O, Rathi V, Lin P, Huang D, Battapady H, Fei DY, Schneider L, Houdayer E, Chen X, Hallett M (2011) Prediction of human voluntary movement before it occurs, Clin Neurophysiol. 2011 Feb 122(2), 364-72. Epub 2010 Aug 2.
Nahab FB, Kundu P, Gallea C, Kakareka J, Pursley R, Pohida T, Miletta N, Friedman J, Hallett M (2011) The Neural Processes Underlying Self-Agency, Cereb Cortex. 2011 Jan 21(1), 48-55. Epub 2010 Apr 8.

All Selected Publications

Contact Information:
Dr. Mark Hallett
Human Motor Control Section
Medical Neurology Branch, NINDS
NIH, Building 10, Room 7D37
10 Center Drive, MSC 1428
Bethesda, MD 20892-1428

Telephone: 301-496-9526 office, 301-496-9526 laboratory, 301-480-2286 fax
Email: hallettm@ninds.nih.gov