Group Members from left to right: Beomseo, Bobby, April, Matthew
April Aralar – Team Manager
Hometown: Virginia Beach, VA
Research Experience:
George Mason University – PI: Dr. Siddhartha Sikdar January 2014-December 2014
- Researched the ultrasound data for the tibialis anterior and rectus femoris muscles in children with cerebral palsy and foot drop and age matched healthy volunteers
- Looked for an echo texture parameter using pixel brightness in ultrasound data that would characterize the muscles and any texture changes that would occur objectively and accurately
- Results showed that the m-parameter was the most accurate measurement because of predicted changes between the relaxed and contracted state of the muscles
INOVA Fairfax – PI: Dr. Aybike Birerdinc January 2015 – May 2015
- Studied the epigenetic factors that have been tested in NAFLD
- Observed biological laboratory techniques such as cell culture and PCR
INOVA Fairfax Hospital – PI: Dr. Naomi Lynn Gerber June 2015 – August 2015
- Produced a Method of extracting Intraday Fitbit Data for a large set of patients in a multidisciplinary cohort study
- Researched the various ways that parameters extracted from Fitbits, an emerging technology for lifestyle monitoring, could be manipulated and calculated for a longitudinal study
Research Interests: Infectious Disease Pathology, specifically the mechanisms of neglected tropical diseases such as leishmaniasis and schistosomiasis and how the human body reacts in different methods
Social Interests: Running
Matthew Bird – Tools and Materials Specialist
Hometown: Alexandria, Virginia
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
George Mason University: Volunteer
June 2015 – August 2015
PI: Dr. Parag Chitnis
Duties:
- Building an optical absorption spectrophotometer out of different components by integrating the parts together in LabVIEW.
- Assisting others with the use of the optical absorption spectrophotometer.
- Testing the optical absorption properties of different materials.
George Mason University: ASSIP/URSP
June 2014 – December 2014
PI: Dr. Vasiliki Ikonomidou
Duties:
- Examined MRIs to search for differences in the white matter areas caused by a gene that predispositions its carriers to Alzheimer’s disease.
- Researched the causes of Alzheimer’s disease and the effects it has on the brain.
- Performed a statistical analysis of the collected data to determine the validity of the results.
- Developed and ran computer code to use for data analysis.
Research Interests: Medical devices
Beomseo Koo – Team Leader
Research Experience:
Food and Drug Administration, White Oak MD
• Imaging immunohistochemistry markers for neural inflammatory response assay
• Wrote MATLAB image-process code to quantify cortical layer restructuring and tissue atrophy
George Mason University Neural Engineering Lab, Fairfax VA
• Generate and maintain primary frontal cortex, spinal cord, and motor neuronal cultures
• Record spike activity of neuronal cultures using Plexon and the Multichannel System
• Characterize effect of low-frequency ultrasound pulses on neuronal electrical activity
Research Interests: Translational and Regulatory Science for Medical devices and procedures
Bobby Graham – Web Manager, General Taskings
Hometown: Chestertown, Maryland
Research and Work Experience:
George Mason University – Neural Engineering Lab
- Design stimulation parameters and collect extracellular voltage information from in vitro neuronal networks cultured on microelectrode arrays.
- Process, analyze, and communicate neuronal spike data to understand the effects of high frequency stimulation on subsequent culture dynamics.
George Mason University – Writing Tutor
- Mentor students in the Engineering and Business disciplines to improve writing abilities.
- Collaborate with students to improve writing assignments for grammar, thought organization, structure, clarity, etc.
Data Works Inc. – Software Development Intern
- Extracted, transformed, and loaded data from various file types into relational database management systems and NoSQL alternatives.
- Automated jobs to scrape tweets in user’s area and store tweet content and metadata in searchable database.
- Implemented natural language processing algorithms to classify tweets as “profane” or “not profane” to indicate which tweets should be displayed to a user.
Research Interests: Neural rehabilitation for spinal column injury, TBI, and neurological disorders. Information representation in the central and peripheral nervous systems. Cellular and network learning mechanisms.
Personal Interests: Performing and creating music, health and fitness, (formerly) regionally ranked bowler.