Ahnsei Shon, doctoral student in the Department of Multidisciplinary Engineering at Texas A&M University, placed first in the Doctoral Lightning Talk Competition of the 17th annual Texas A&M University System Pathways Student Research Symposium for his research on sensory electrical stimulation (SES) of spinal cord injury rehabilitation.
SES can avoid the medical drawbacks — such as rapid muscle fatigue, stiffness and pain — that occur with traditional functional electrical stimulation. As part of Shon’s research in this area, he created a fully implantable closed-loop neural interface device that has been shown to successfully increase ankle joint movement. The device increased the maximum ankle joint angle from 149.4° (baseline, without stimulation) to 165.4° and 161.6° with stimulation amplitude of 100 microamperes (unit of electric current) and 200 microamperes, respectively. The minimum ankle joint angle was decreased from 59.4° (baseline) to 53.1° with stimulation amplitude of 100 microamperes through this method.
“Sensory electrical stimulation will have a powerful impact on producing more natural movements for rehabilitation that involves spinal circuitry while avoiding some limitations of traditional functional electrical stimulation directly recruiting motor neurons,” Shon said.
Shon works in the Integrated Neuro-Prosthesis Laboratory at Texas A&M with assistant professor Dr. Hangue Park from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His work is based on a strong collaboration with Dr. Michelle Hook, associate professor in the College of Medicine. At this time, Shon and the team have published two Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers journal papers on this subject.
Sensory electrical stimulation will have a powerful impact on producing more natural movements for rehabilitation that involves spinal circuitry while avoiding some limitations of traditional functional electrical stimulation directly recruiting motor neurons.
Open to undergraduate and graduate students from all The Texas A&M University System institutions, the Pathways Student Research Symposium gives students an opportunity to network and present their research to faculty members, judges and other students across the system.
"This would not have been possible without the guidance of my advisor, Dr. Hangue Park," Shon said. "I also appreciate our collaboration team (Dr. Hook and her doctoral student Alex Stefanov) and all my lab mates, especially electrical engineering doctoral students Stefan Manoharan and Devon Dollahon, who were with me until the end of the competition."