Alumnus Speaker at the 2007 MSTP Retreat

Todd Kuiken , M.D., Ph.D.

I graduated from the Medical Scientist Training Program at Northwestern University in 1990 and currently am Associate Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Northwestern University-Feinberg School of Medicine and in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Neural Engineering Center for Artifical Limbs at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. I also serve as the Associate Dean, Feinberg School of Medicine, for Academic Affairs at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. 

Research Interests

My laboratory focuses on working to develop a neural-machine interface to improve the function of artificial limbs.  The main research focus of the lab is developing a technique to use nerve transfers for improvement of myoelectric prosthesis control.  By transferring the residual arm nerves in an upper limb amputee to spare regions of muscle it is possible to make new signals for the control of robotic arms.  These signals are directly related to the original function of the limb and allow simultaneous control of multiple joints in a natural way.  Similarly, hand sensation nerves grow into spare skin so that when this skin is touched, the amputee feels like their missing hand is being touched.

Clinical Interests:

Developing a Neural Machine Interface for Amputees.

Awards

Best Doctor in Chicago, Chicago Magazine, January, 2007 and 2004.

Best New Technology of 2005, Popular Science Magazine, December, 2005.

The da Vinci Award® ‘honoring outstanding engineering achievements relative to design process, product design and applied research as relate to accessibility and universal design issues’, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, October, 2005. 

Breakthrough Doctors, Chicago Magazine, January, 2003

Representative Publications:

1. Zhou P, Lowery MM, Englehart KB, Huang H, Li G, Hargrove L, Dewald JP, Kuiken TA. 2007. Decoding a New Neural-Machine Interface for Control of Artificial Limbs. J Neurophysiol. 2007 Aug 29 EPub ahead of print.

2. Zhou P, Lock B, Kuiken TA. 2007. Real time ECG artifact removal for myoelectric prosthesis control.Physiol Meas. 2007 Apr;28(4):397-413. Epub 2007 Mar 20.

3.

Lowery MM, Weir RF and Kuiken TA. Simulation of Intramuscular EMG Signals Detected using Implantable MyoElectric Sensors (IMES). Accepted by IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, September, 2005.

4. Harden RN, Houle TT, Green S, Remble TA, Weinland SR, Colio S, Lauzon J, Kuiken, T.  Biofeedback in the treatment of phantom limb pain: a time-series analysis. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback. 2005;30(1):83-93.

5. Kuiken TA Dumanian GA, Lipschutz RD, Miller LA and Stubblefield KA. The use of targeted muscle reinnervation for improved myoelectric prosthesis control in a bilateral shoulder disarticulation amputee.  Prosthetics and Orthotics International, 28(3) pp.245-253. December 2004.

6. Stoykov N.S., Lowery M.M., and Kuiken T.A.  A finite-element analysis of the effect of muscle insulation and shielding on the surface EMG signal. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 51, December, 2004.

7. Lowery M.M., Stoykov N.S., Dewald J.P.A. and Kuiken T.A.  Volume Conduction in an Anatomically-Based Surface EMG Model.  IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 51, December, 2004.

8. Kuiken TA, Amir H and Scheidt RA.  Computerized biofeedback knee goniometer: acceptance and effect on exercise behavior in post TKA rehabilitation, Archives of PM&R, 85(6):1026-30, 2004.

9.Kuiken TA. The use of nerve-muscle grafts to improve the control of artificial limbs.  Journal of Technology and Disability, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp.105-111, 2003.