NeuroMat's "Action for the Brachial Plexus Injury" - ABRAÇO (a word that in Portuguese may also mean "hug") is a virtual platform that aims at being a permanent forum to fully develop the integration between scientific production, technology transfer and the dissemination of knowledge. Therefore, research associated with ABRAÇO unfolds on several fronts, such as investigation of mechanisms of brain alteration associated with this sort of lesion, in addition to diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, scientific communication and data sharing.

This initiative includes physicians, physiotherapists, neuroscientists, probabilists and statisticians, and it is led by Antonio Galves, the director of RIDC NeuroMat, and Claudia D. Vargas, one of NeuroMat's principal investigators.

Our main challenge is to understand the mechanisms associated with brain reorganization that follows a brachial plexus injury. In addition, we intend to develop and make available tools for its early diagnosis and management. ABRAÇO initiative acts on this front by developing and providing educational tools about the injury itself and also its prognosis.

Under the scientific point of view, mechanisms related to pain and sensory-motor dysfunction following a brachial plexus injury are still purely descriptive, and therefore have a low predictive level.

We intend to develop experiments that allow investigating and modeling brain plasticity after an injury to the brachial plexus. The results will be exposed to the discussion here on this platform.