My work focuses on studying the conscious percepts of touch and proprioception that can be elicited through electrical stimulation of the dorsal root ganglion and dorsal spinal cord for use in a potential closed loop upper/lower extremity prosthetic device. I'm particularly interested in developing novel neural interfaces with the nervous system to restore sensorimotor function lost to amputation and injury.
As a part of the Rehab Neural Engineering Labs (RNEL), I have been involved in the study design and setup for our human subject testing as well as data collection, management and analysis for these data. My research interests include neuroprosthetics, somatosensory feedback, neuropathic pain, computational modeling and big data management. My adviser is Dr. Lee Fisher (Ph.D.).
PhD in Bioengineering, 2020
University of Pittsburgh
MSE in Bioengineering, 2013
University of Pennsylvania
BSE in Bioengineering, 2012
University of Pennsylvania
Dash-Plotly based dashboard hosted on Heroku to visualize stim triggered average ENG and selectivity result
Computational model of the dorsal root ganglia to replicate the dynamics of electrical stimulation via epineural and penetrating microelectrodes.
A wearable for sensorizing existing prostheses.
Selective recruitment and behavioral impact of DRG stimulation.
Electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve to modulate gastric function.
Dash-Plotly based dashboard to aggregate and visualize results from human studies in real-time
Spinal root stimulation for restoration of function in upper and lower limb amputees.
Python and Kivy based touch interface for reporting location and modality of percepts evoked via spinal cord stimulation in upper or lower limb amputees
Restoring somatosensory feedback to people with limb amputations is crucial to improve prosthetic control. Multiple studies have demonstrated that peripheral nerve stimulation and targeted reinnervation can provide somatotopically relevant sensory feedback. While effective, the surgical procedures required for these techniques remain a major barrier to translatability. Here, we demonstrate in four people with upper-limb amputation that epidural spinal cord stimulation (SCS), a common clinical technique to treat pain, evoked somatosensory percepts that were perceived as emanating from the missing arm and hand. Over up to 29 days, stimulation evoked sensory percepts in consistent locations in the missing hand regardless of time since amputation or level of amputation. Evoked sensations were occasionally described as naturalistic (e.g. touch or pressure), but were often paresthesias. Increasing stimulus amplitude increased the perceived intensity linearly, without increasing area of the sensations. These results demonstrate the potential of SCS as a tool to restore somatosensation after amputations.