Taylor, Dawn, PhD

Dr. Dawn Taylor is a Research Scientist at the Northeast Ohio VA Healthcare System and an Associate Professor at both the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute and the Cleveland Clinic College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, recognized for her pioneering contributions to brain-machine interfacing (BMI) and neuroprosthetic control.

Dr. Taylor was the first to demonstrate real-time 3D brain control of computer cursors and robots by non-human primates using a novel co-adaptive decoding framework, published in Science (2002), and has since built a translational research program spanning intracortical BMI, EEG-based stroke rehabilitation, field-potential signal processing, and the characterization of brain tissue health around implanted electrodes. She is a founding member and Leadership Team member of Women in Neural Engineering (WINE) and a 2019 Crain’s Cleveland Business Notable Women in STEM.

Her current work focuses on restoring proprioception via intracortical microstimulation of cortical area 3a in non-human primates — providing the preclinical roadmap needed for electrode manufacturers to target area 3a in humans — and on developing co-adaptive brain-decoding methods that exploit natural brain plasticity to improve neuroprosthetic control. She also develops novel EEG signal processing tools for stroke and pain treatment assessment studies.

Taylor is interested in decoding an individual’s intended movements in real time from recorded brain signals and then using this to control various devices, such as an upper limb neuroprosthesis for restoring arm and hand function. In this case, extracting movement commands from the brain may allow paralyzed individuals to move their limbs by volitional control.

Taylor is also investigating ways to extract one’s intended arm and hand movements from brain recordings collected from tiny microelectrode arrays inserted a few millimeters into the cortex. A focus of this work is understanding limb stiffness and muscle force to further improve the stability and usefulness of brain-controlled neuroprosthetic systems.

The lab is complementing this research with additional studies on how to return proprioception — specifically the sense of muscle force — back to the brain. This team is using stimulation in the sensory cortex to generate perceptions of limb movement and muscle activity.

Reliably recording the tiny electrical signals of the brain can be a challenge because of noise artifacts from many sources. Therefore, the lab is working on optimizing noise removal algorithms to make all brain-controlled devices work better.

Additionally, Taylor’s lab is using EEGs on the scalp surface to assess brain function and improve treatments for other diseases such as Parkinson’s disease and stroke. To that end the team is working to develop better, more reliable non-invasive electrodes.

RESEARCH PROGRAMS

• Co-adaptive brain-machine interfaces for direct cortical control of neuromuscular stimulation systems
• Restoration of proprioception via intracortical microstimulation of cortical area 3a
• Field-potential-based BMI signal processing (EEG, sEEG, ECoG, LFP)
• EEG-based stroke rehabilitation and brain-triggered neuroprostheses
• Brain tissue health around implanted electrodes and neuroinflammation

MAJOR PROJECTS & FUNDING

• VA-Funded Research, developing translatable BMI systems for restoring full arm and hand function in individuals paralyzed below the neck; non-human primate preclinical roadmap for human clinical translation
• VA-Funded Research, restoration of proprioception via intracortical microstimulation of area 3a in macaques; foundational evidence for human electrode targeting
• ReHAB Study, Co-investigator on the neural interfaces for sensorimotor restoration after tetraplegia (Neurosurgery, 2024)
• Intensive Stroke Cycling for Optimal Recovery and Economic Value (ISCORE) — co-investigator on randomized clinical trial using EEG to assess spatiotemporal brain changes before and after treatment (Physical Therapy, 2025)
• Simplified neuromuscular stimulation control incorporating limb stiffness as a modifiable degree of freedom — co-investigator on study demonstrating improved arm movement control in neuroprosthesis users (Journal of Neural Engineering, 2025)

HONORS & RECOGNITION

• Notable Women in STEM, Crain’s Cleveland Business, 2019
• Vodovnik Award for Excellence in Student Research on Functional Electrical Stimulation, International FES Society, 2001