DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Facial paralysis represents a devastating clinical problem; management strategies to date remain inadequate. The long term career objective is to improve the clinical management of facial paralysis, by more effectively restoring meaningful movement to the facial musculature. The immediate basic scientific goals are to develop an animal model for the study of facial nerve regeneration, to control the phenomenon of aberrant regeneration (misrouting of axons to an inappropriate muscle target), and to accelerate facial nerve regeneration in the rat using pharmacologic strategies. The long range scientific goals are to utilize emerging peripheral nerve regeneration strategies in this newly developed model to increase the number and target accuracy of axons arriving in the facial musculature after injury or sacrifice. The corresponding decrease in synkinesis (unintentional movement of one region of the face during facial expression), and overall higher neural input will improve clinical facial nerve outcomes. The clinical environment is a busy tertiary care hospital with a specialized facial nerve center and a large population of patients with this uncommon disorder; the research environment is a fully equipped state of the art research facility within the primary hospital and the adjacent hospital. The academic environment is one of complete dedication to advancing both biomedical science and patient care through careful study and diligent investigation, and of support for the mentored investigator.