David Hall

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David Hall
Biomedical Engineering
david.hall@ufl.edu | LinkedIn
Magnetic Nanoparticle Stimulation

 

David received his B.S. degree from The University of Texas at San Antonio in 2019. He is now pursuing his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering with Professors Otto and Dobson. His current work focuses on understanding how functionalized magnetic nanoparticles can be employed to modulate cellular activity.

Hunter Hakimian (2018-2022)

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Hunter Hakimian
Biomedical Engineering
hakimianh13@ufl.edu
Neural interfaces and neural stimulation

Hunter completed his BS in Physics at Georgia Tech in 2017. His undergraduate research under Dr. Flavio Fenton focused on entropy analysis of cardiac tissue activity under ventricular fibrillation. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering.

Savannah Dewberry (2017-2023)

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Savannah Dewberry
Ph.D. student
Biomedical Engineering
ls.dewberry@ufl.edu
Neurostimulation and chronic pain

Savannah received her B.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2016. Her undergraduate research under Dr. Robert Sorge focused on the behavioral psychology of nociception, with a paper establishing a novel zebrafish model for chronic pain. She worked at a start-up developing a diagnostic device for a year before coming to UF. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florida with the support of the NSF graduate research fellowship. She is studying neuromodulation of chronic pain syndromes and plans to look for a post-doc position starting spring 2023. Her CV can be found here.

Ian Malone (2017-2022)

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Ian Malone
Ph.D. student
Electrical Engineering
malonei@ufl.edu
LinkedIn Profile

GitHub Profile

Spinal cord interfaces and machine learning

Ian completed his BS in Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Florida in 2016. He is now pursuing a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering, researching neuroprostheses to facilitate respiratory recovery after spinal cord injury and applying machine learning methodologies to answer associated questions.

Morgan Urdaneta (2016-2020)

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Morgan Urdaneta
Ph.D. student
Interdisciplinary Science with specialization in Neuroscience
morgan.urdaneta@ufl.edu
Neural Interfaces and Neurostimulation

After a brief period of Medical School at the Universidad de Carabobo (Venezuela), Morgan received his B.S. in Biomedical Sciences from The University of North Florida in 2015. For more than three years, he worked with Dr. Amy L. Lane where he finished his Undergraduate Honors thesis on Natural Products from Marine Bacteria as Inhibitors of Fungal Biofilms. Upon graduation he worked on drug pharmacodynamics in the laboratory of Dr. Alan P. Fields at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center. Morgan is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Science with a specialization in Neuroscience at the University of Florida. He’s currently interested in chronically-stable intracortical microstimulation devices and technologies, such as Micromagnetic stimulation, for closed-loop Brain Machine Interfaces.

Elliott Dirr (2016-2021)

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Elliott Dirr
Ph.D. student
Biomedical Engineering
edirr@ufl.edu
LinkedIn Profile
Neural interfaces and neural stimulation

Elliott received his B.S. in biomedical engineering with a minor in entrepreneurship from The Ohio State University in 2014. His undergraduate research focused on the effect of intrastriatal injection of alpha-synuclein fibrils on ultrasonic vocalizations in rats under Dr. Shelia Fleming. Elliott is interested in the use of peripheral neuromodulation to treat diseases by utilizing the body’s own ability to respond chemically to neural stimuli. He is currently examining the efficacy of using targeted neurostimulation techniques to chronically control blood glucose.

Jamie Murbach (2016-2021)

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Jamie Murbach
Ph.D. Student
Materials Science and Engineering
jam8744@ufl.edu
Neural interfaces and drug delivery

Jamie completed her B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering with a concentration in polymeric materials and a minor in chemistry from Clemson University in 2016. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Florida.

Seth Currlin (2015-2021)

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small_sethprofileSeth Currlin
Ph.D. student
Interdisciplinary Science with specialization in Neuroscience
scurrlin@ufl.edu
Neural implants and neural stimulation

Seth earned his B.S. (2011) in Biology and M.S. (2013) in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Florida. Master’s work focused on metabolic peptide influence upon taste modulation and related neural pathways with Dr. C.D. Dotson and Dr. Sergei Zolotukhin. In 2015 Seth was accepted to the University of Florida’s Interdisciplinary Science Ph.D. program (IDP) and will specialize in Neuroscience.

Janak Gaire (2012-2018)

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gaireDr. Janak Gaire
Post-Doc
Neuroscience
jgaire@ufl.edu
Tissue-device interfaces and neural implants
[expand title=”Read more”] Janak completed his B.S. in Biology, with a minor in chemistry from the University of North Texas in 2010. For a year, he worked with Dr. Guenter W. Gross at Center for Network Neuroscience to develop ways to increase the durability of microelectrode array plate. Currently, he is pursuing a PhD in Department of Neuroscience at University of Florida (UF). Before transferring to UF in August 2014, he joined the Neuroprostheses Research Laboratory at Purdue University in summer of 2012. He is interested in improving the functional longevity of the implanted devices and currently working on evaluating tissue response to brain-implanted devices.

Research Abstract:

Intracortical microelectrode devices provide a brain machine interface capable of targeting very small populations of neurons with a potential to treat many neurological disorders. These penetrating devices generally perform well for a short duration but fail to record or stimulate reliably for chronic time putatively due to reactive tissue response (RTR). The loss of chronic functional reliability is a major hurdle for successful clinical implementation. I am interested in understanding the mechanisms underlying device failure. My research focuses on employing novel techniques and models to investigate biological mechanisms underlying device failure. I have been involved in developing novel imaging techniques (both in situ and in vivo imaging techniques) and mouse models to evaluate biological changes surrounding the implanted devices.

Download Janak Gaire’s Curriculum Vitae
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Matthew McDermott (2010-2017)

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mcdermottMatthew McDermott
Ph.D. student
Biomedical Engineering
m.mcdermott1984@ufl.edu
Drug delivery, and brain-machine interfaces
[expand title=”Read more”] Matthew completed his B.S. in Chemistry at Purdue University in 2007, while also receiving a minor in Biology. He worked for two years at Akina Inc. where he developed homologous PLGA micro and nano particles for the use in sustained release drug therapies. Currently, he is pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University, in the Biological Sciences Doctoral Track through the Biomedical Engineering Department. He joined the NPR Lab in the fall of 2010 researching polymer coatings and drug delivery across the brain machine interface.

Research Abstract:

After implantation of microelectrode arrays (MEAs) into the brain, the foreign body response (FBR) is activated, ultimately leading to microglial activation, astrocyte migration, and inflammation. This response is expected to have an effect upon device performance, decreasing signal to noise and increasing impedance. Research in the field has been conducted to mitigate this response, either by drug delivery or altering the MEA brain interface. For these methods to work, drug release must be controlled, without “burst release”, and the coating must not drastically increase the device footprint. Tetramethyl orthosilicate shows promise in that regard. Deposition of TMOS does not negatively MEA performance1,2 and has been shown capable of controlled release2. However, the functionality of this polymer to mitigate the FBR depends on the ability to tune drug delivery without increasing the device footprint. In this study, novel coating paradigms were used to ascertain the ability of TMOS for tunable delivery, and the effect of these multiple coatings upon device footprint.

Download Matthew McDermott’s Curriculum Vitae[/expand]

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Hugh Lee (2012-2016)

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hl-100x133Heui Chang (Hugh) Lee
Post-Doc
Biomedical Engineering
hclee83@ufl.edu
Neural implants, tissue-device interfaces, and neurostimulation
[expand title=”Read more”] Hugh received a BS in Hanyang University and M.S. in Seoul National University, both in electrical engineering. While he was working at KIST in Man-Machine Interface lab for one and a half year, he developed his interest in neural engineering and decided to continue study in biomedical engineering. Currently, he is a PhD student in biomedical engineering at Purdue University. He joined Neuroprostheses Research Lab in 2012 and conducted researchin electrophysiology recording via neural implants and the mechanism of its failure.

Research Abstract:

The long-term performance of brain implanted microelectrode arrays is hampered by a series of inflammatory tissue responses. The consequence of the tissue reaction is formation of glial scar and permeabilizing blood-brain barrier (BBB) around the vicinity of the electrode, causing neuronal degeneration and impeding the electrical signal conduction. My study aims to investigate mechanical intervention strategies to mitigate the effect of tissue response and prolong the lifetime of electrodes. In particular, I am looking at novel site geometry and mechanically compliant material under recording and microstimulation conditions.

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