Lab Personnel
Emily Graczyk
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University
Biomedical Engineer, Louis Stokes Cleveland
VA Medical Center
2018 PhD in Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University
2013 BS in Biomedical Engineering, University of South Carolina
Graduate Students
PhD Candidate, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
John Wright
2016 BS Psychology and Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah
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John's research interests lie in the emotional elements of touch and their neural underpinnings.
PhD Candidate, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
Preethisiri Bhat
2020 BS Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley
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Preethi is interested in uncovering how somatosensory information is encoded in the cortex, and how this understanding can be used to develop peripheral nerve stimulation patterns that evoke naturalistic cortical activity.
PhD Candidate, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
Jonah Mudge
2021 BS Biomedical Engineering, Minor in Computer Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Jonah's research focuses on characterizing proprioceptive percepts in upper-limb amputees and aims to benefit amputees by improving proprioceptive feedback in neuroprostheses.
PhD Candidate, Francis Payne Bolton School of Nursing
Clinical Research Nurse Coordinator, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center
Meilissa Schmitt
2005 BS Nursing, Kent State University
Melissa currently works with a multi-disciplinary team that applies electrical stimulation to the residual nerves in amputees to provide sensation from prosthetic hands or feet. Her research interest includes seeking to understand the psychosocial experiences of upper limb amputees.
PhD Candidate, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
Bronwyn Spilker
2022 BSE Biomedical Engineering and Psychology, Minor in Electrical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University
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Bronwyn studies how learning strategies can be utilized to supplement a biomimicry approach to sensory reeducation to allow participants to more naturally embrace and use ICMS or PNS stimulation in place of lost sensation.
PhD Candidate, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
Roberto Peralta
2022 BS Mechanical Engineering, Minors in Mathematics and French, University of Arizona
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Roberto is interested in developing biomimetic peripheral nerve stimulation paradigms to improve quality and replicate texture sensations. Roberto uses in-silico models to inform and iterate on these paradigms.
PhD Candidate, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
Brianna Hutchison
2019 BS Electrical Engineering, University of Michigan
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Brianna is a BME PhD student at Case Western University co-mentored by Dr. Graczyk and Dr. Ajiboye. She is exploring the neural representation of tactile sensation. She is helping the ReHAB team restore upper limb functionality to people with spinal cord injuries, focusing on providing tactile feedback to improve grasp dexterity.
Staff
Study Coordinator
Jessica Jarvela (née Walrath
MS Pathology, Case Western Reserve University
BS Biology, University of Dayton
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Jessica's primary focus is providing administrative support to both the clinical and technical project teams for the laboratory's multiple projects. This includes coordinating test subject scheduling, documentation and maintenance of research data, support completion of regulatory documents for the FDA, IRP, and/or project sponsor as required, as well as assist the quality systems engineer and systems engineer in generation of all quality system documentation.
Biomedical Engineer
Aaron Ketting-Oliver
2021 MS Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University
BS Biomedical Engineering, University of Rochester
​Mount San Antonio College; Cert. Computer Languages: C, Java, HTML
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Aaron works as a CRNA connecting the patient to research equipment and looking after their welfare during sessions. He also develop and maintain hardware for our studies and assist with data analysis techniques.
Study Coordinator
Alexandra Zanowick-Marr
2020 MPH, Case Western Reserve University
2020 BA Biochemistry, Case Western Reserve University
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Alex serves as a Clinical Research Analyst for the Cleveland VA Medical Research and Education Foundation (CVAMREF) where she provides support for studies as an affiliate to the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA and University. In addition to using her background to ensure practice is informed by public health standards, she conducts data analysis, assists in the identification and interpretation of trends within data, and prepares report summaries/models for publication.
Research Occupational Therapist, Louis Stokes VA
Chris Cowen
1995 BS Occupational Therapy, Cleveland State University
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Chris works with our research participants to train them in the use of state of the art, high DoF prostheses. She aids in subject recruitment - speaking with potential subjects, answering questions about studies and conducting functional measures during initial screenings - and is the point of contact for all upper extremity amputee participants serving as a patient advocate.
Undergraduate Students
Working under John Wright
- Krithika Gopalakris
- Dylan Bordman
Working Under Jonah Mudge
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Dylan Bordman
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Ishika Kanakath
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Wiliam Kaon
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Rachel Chang
Working Under Brianna Hutchinson
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Samuel Lagunzad
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Ben Kwiatkowski
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Jai Masturzo
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Aidan Nathan
Working Under Bronwyn Spilker
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Janani Rajan
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Suraj Das
Working Under Preethisiri Bhat
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Anika Regan
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Jonathan Callejas
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Arushi Dugar
Working Under Roberto Peralta
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Veronica Sorg
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Mark Aoun
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Anshul Dash
Alumni
The following people have been involved in the lab as students, researchers, coordinators or other and we thank them for their contributions!
2021 MS Electrical Engineering, CWRU
Tanya Tebcherani
Tanya developed a novel controller for evoking sensation with PNS. Her legacy continues on in the work of the lab and as of 2021, she is a visiting assistant professor at Hope College!
Study Coordinator
Alesia Lambert
Alesia acted as a study coordinator - assisting with IRB and FDA submissions and approvals and coordinating travel for participants. Alesia left the team in 2023 to work at ____
Research Nurse and Coordinator
Alexandra Hutchison
more info to come
Undergraduate Researcher
Eric Chen
A part of the Graczyk Lab 2019-2023, Eric graduated in 2023 with a BS in Biomedical Engineering. He is currently working at UH while applying to medical school programs.
Undergraduate Researcher
Shifra Narasimhan
A part of the Graczyk lab 2019-2023, Shifra graduated from CWRU in 2023 with a BS in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Electrical Engineering.