We aim to understand the emergence of movement by the interplay of nervous system and musculoskeletal system. More specifically, we are interested in the role of the spinal cord as a controller of musculoskeletal system. The primary methods employed are recreation of movement in silico. We also measure real movement using electrophysiology and optical motion capture. In the coming years, we hope that our in-silico systems will evolve to become hybrid systems that can fuse simulation with human movement.

NEUROiD

Life in our lab revolves around NEUROiD, our in silico movement laboratory that allows us to curate large amounts of published results to recreate physiology & anatomy of the spinal cord and the biomechanics of the musculoskeletal system. Underneath the hood, NEUROiD is a co-simulation system that uses the popular neural simulator NEURON and the biomechanics simulator OpenSim respectively to simulate the neural and musculoskeletal components.

Movement measurements and kinematics

We measure movement using a variety of techniques and measurement systems: surface EMG, EEG, optical motion tracking with force plates, and eye gaze tracking.

Research questions

We address a variety of research questions centered around movement:

• Science of movement:

  • Interplay of neural and musculoskeletal constraints on movement

  • Effect of spinal reflex circuits on movement kinematics ?

• Clinics and Med device design:

  • Design principles of spinal cord electrical stimulation system

  • Mechanisms of action in neuromodulation

• Natural intelligence & Artificial intelligence:

  • Spino-musculoskeletal circuits as reinforced learning systems

  • Spinal reflexes as inspiration for robotics

• Technology:

  • Sports, rehabilitation & Performance evaluation

• Education:

  • Simulators as in-silico experimental platforms for students of medicine and engineering