Engineering a Movement to Manage Paralysis Healthcare

The intersection of engineering and medicine is a sweet spot called neuromodulation, which involves electronic implants that can restore movement and body functions. In the center of this research—and particularly in the field of functional electrical stimulation (FES)—is Hunter Peckham, Ph.D., an FES pioneer who recognized a need for engineering in medicine, and developing devices…

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Breakthrough Medical Technologies Better by Design

As a result of a snowboarding accident, Jennifer French became a quadriplegic from a C6-7 incomplete spinal cord injury in 1998. She is an active user of Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) systems. In November 1999, she received the Implantable Stand & Transfer System provided by the Cleveland FES Center, MetroHealth Medical Center and Veterans Affairs;…

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Park Gym Paralympian

Imagine enjoying a sunny day on the slopes, sliding down the side of a mountain on your snowboard. One moment you’re feeling free and in control – the next, you’ve hit a patch of ice and careened into a stand of trees. That’s the last thing entrepreneur, paralympian and quadriplegic Jennifer French remembers before waking…

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Biomedical Engineering’s Dustin Tyler Receives SPiRE Grant

Dustin Tyler, associate professor of biomedical engineering, is a co-lead investigator on a team that received a $199,913 grant from the Rehabilitation Research and Development (RRD) Service Small Projects in Rehabilitation Research (SPiRE) program to develop advanced in-line connectors. In the study, “In-Line 32-Channel Connector for High-Density Implantable Medical Device,” Tyler and Douglas Shire attempt…

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An Artificial Hand with Real Feelings

A new nerve interface can simulate a sense of touch from 20 spots on a prosthetic hand. There have been remarkable mechanical advances in prosthetic limbs in recent years, including rewiring nerve fibers to control sophisticated mechanical arms and brain interfaces that allow for complicated thought control. But for all this progress, prosthetic limbs cannot…

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