Current Research


I am leading several research projects focusing on deepening our biomechanical understanding of spinal cord injury and implementing user-informed design revisions on a developed robotic injury test platform.

Study: Development of Unilateral Contusion Computational Models

Overview: This study expands our lab's preclinical computational modelling capabilities to include smaller injury models and examine the differences between commonly used mechanisms.

Approach: Utilizing finite element methods leveraging advances from our large injury model work, as well as previous computational and experimental studies.

Current Status: Actively working on the manuscript with finalization of analysis and discussion.

Impact: These models could improve our understanding of various injury platforms and the resulting injuries, facilitating the consolidation of results across studies using different platforms.

My role: Student Lead

Poster presentation at the Canadian Spinal Cord Injury Meeting in Banff, Canada (April 2024).

Study: Assessing the Effect of Pre-load in Computational Unilateral and Bilateral Contusions

Overview: The study characterizes the performance of our developed robotic test platform on surrogate spinal cords incorporating pre-load and its impact on tissue-level biomechanics.

Approach: Developing contusion protocols with surrogate spinal cords and simulating the contusions with the previous study’s computational models to examine the tissue-level stresses and strains.

Current Status: Preliminary data gathering and simulations.

Impact: These models provide the opportunity to understand better the effect of the cerebrospinal fluid and impinging the spinal cord onto the canal to the resulting injury.

My role: Student Lead

Study: User-Centred Design of a Robotic Test Platform

Overview: The study revises a developed spinal cord injury test platform using user feedback to improve the user experience (UX) for non-engineer users while maintaining accurate biomechanical data.

Approach: Engaging with users through semi-structured interviews informs the design requirements and priorities with revision implementation using ISO 9241 - 110.

Current Status: Continued data gathering and preliminary revisions.

Impact: An effective UX that supports a variety of neurotrauma researchers is essential when experiments require more flexibility and highlights the importance of center users in designing these engineered systems.

My role: Student Lead

Poster Presentation at the National Neurotrauma Society Symposium in San Francisco, USA (June 2024).

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Past Research