CLEAR.

May 06, 2022

 

Dr. Amy N. Adkins​, Assistant Teaching Professor, Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, UNC Chapel Hill & NC State University

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Topic: Validation and Implementation of Multiscale Imaging Techniques for Quantifying Muscle Function and Plasticity

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Dr. Adkin's talk  established confidence in the ability to reliably quantify multiscale in vivo muscle structure (from the sarcomere scale to whole muscle) using minimally invasive imaging techniques and demonstrate the extent to which current approaches can detect structural adaptation in human muscle. 

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April 01, 2022

 

Dr. Roger Cornwall,

• Clinical Director, Division of Pediatric Orthopaedics 

• Director, Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery Fellowship

• Professor, UC Department of Orthopedic Surgery

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Topic: Shifting the Paradigm of Neuromuscular Contractures: A Little Medicine to Prevent a Lot of Surgery

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Dr. Cornwall's talk told the story of how a clinical problem encountered during the surgical treatment of contractures following brachial plexus birth injury led to basic biological discoveries reshaping our understanding and potentially our treatment of neuromuscular contractures. 

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March 04, 2022

 

Student Presentations:

• Chelsea "CJ" Parker (Dr. Lewek's Lab), Subtle Variations in Metronome Cues can Alter Gait Without Conscious Awareness to Promote Implicit Learning

• Emily Eichenlaub (Dr. Franz's Lab), The Neuromechanics of Anticipated and Unanticipated Balance Perturbations During Standing and Walking

• Morgan Dalman (Dr. Saul's Lab), Computational Modeling of Glenohumeral Contact and Translation

• Miranda Ludovice (Dr. Kamper's Lab), The Impact of Finger Length and Posture on Muscle Activation Patterns Using OpenSim

• Wentao Liu (Dr. Huang's Lab), Inferring Human-Robot Performance Objectives during Locomotion using Inverse Reinforcement Learning

Febuary 04, 2022

 

Presenters: Gedas Bertasius, Henry Fuchs, Daniel Szafir, and Danielle Szafir

UNC Dept of Computer Science

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Topic: The group discussed their own research and a new joint project, Augmented Reality Neurorehabilitation for Monitoring and Management of Motor Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease, which they have started with collaborators Professors Michael Lewek (Physical Therapy) and Nina Browner (Neurology). Topics of discussion included computer vision, egocentric motion tracking, virtual and augmented reality, human-robot interaction, and data visualization.

December 03, 2021

 

Dr. Karen Boru Chen, Assistant Professor, Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, NC State University

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Topic: Interfacing with virtual environments through bio-signals and bodily motions – integration and application

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Dr. Chen's talk presented information about the integration and application of bio-signals and bodily motions to interface with VR. 

October 01, 2021

 

Dr. Pedro Lopes, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Chicago

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Topic: Integrating Interactive Devices With the User’s Body

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Dr. Lopes discussed his work on bodily-integrated devices, which he believes are the natural succession to wearable interfaces and allow us to investigate how interfaces might connect to our bodies in a more direct and personal way. 

September 03, 2021

 

Dr. Rinku Roy, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Topic: Prediction of Fingertip force and Joint Kinematics of Individual Fingers using Motoneuron Firing Activities

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Dr. Roy discussed her use of the Neural-drive approach with advanced assistive robotic hands that can help individuals with hand impairment perform daily activities. 

May 07, 2021

 

Dr. Amay Bandodkar, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, NC State University

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Topic: Unconventional biochemical sensors and energy devices for applications in wearables and neuro-engineering

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Dr. Bandodkar's research interests include working at the interface of electronics, materials science, and biology to realize next-generation conformal sensors and energy devices with broad applications in wearables, implants, and distributed systems. 

April 02, 2021

 

Dr. Hoon Kim, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Topic: Decoding neuromuscular features in ankle muscles: Wavelet transformed EMG signals

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Dr. Kim's work examines mobility in older adults and he uses musculoskeletal simulations to understand how gait changes as humans age. Dr. Kim is a Postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Jason Franz's laboratory. 

March 05, 2021

 

Dr. Helen Huang, Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineerinig, University of Central Florida

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Topic: Advancing multimodal neuromechanics and understanding of locomotor adaptation

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Dr. Huang presented her team’s research on advancing sensor development and methods for using high-density electroencephalography (EEG) to study brain dynamics in multimodal neuromechanics experiments of human locomotion and locomotor adaptation. She also discussed recent findings on brain responses to perturbations during a seated locomotor task and gait stability responses to small perturbations applied on a stride-by-stride basis during walking. 

Feb 05, 2021

 

Dr. Karl Newell, Department of Kinesiology, University of Georgia

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Dr. Newell's presentation focused on the learning of new patterns of coordination in human movement.  This a property of skill acquisition that has been underplayed in the traditions of motor learning due to the selection of so-called ‘simple’ low degrees of freedom (DF) tasks or those tasks where the individual can already produce the qualitative properties of the coordination pattern.  The role of order parameters/collective variables from a dynamic systems framework is considered as essential to the early formative stage of skill acquisition.  Theoretical, experimental and practical implications and challenges of this approach to the learning of movement forms will be discussed. 

Dec 04, 2020

 

Dr. Varun Nalam (Postdoc Fellow, Mentor: Helen Huang)

 

Dr. Nalam's presentation discussed understanding how humans modulate their ankle behavior during various tasks could aid in advancement of assistive and rehabilitative care of people suffering from neurodegenerative disorders. The research presented in this talk focuses on quantifying ankle impedance modulation during balance and walking in different environments and its implications in development of patient specific rehabilitation protocols for people suffering from Multiple Sclerosis and Stroke. 

Nov 13, 2020

 

Topic: Rehabilitation Research and Engineering Center:  Collaborative Machines Enhancing Therapies (COMET)

 

Speakers: Dr. Ferdinando Mussa-Ivaldi (Northwestern U/ Shirley Ryan AbilityLab)

     Body-Machine Interface: Recovering muscle control

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Dr. Heike Vallery (TU Delft)

     GyroBalance: Adaptive wearable balance trainer

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Dr. Arun Jayaraman (Shirley Ryan AbilityLab/ Northwestern U)

      Soft Exosuit: Variable collaborative assistance for functional 

      gait recovery in stroke

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Dr. James Patton (University of Illinois at Chicago/ Shirley Ryan AbilityLab)

     Augmentation Exoskeletons: Smart passive devices for arm

     function recovery

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Dr. David Reinkensmeyer (University of California, Irvine)

     Wearable Sensing: Custom feedback for encouraging

     movement practice