Eric Zhao

Over a million people suffer limb loss annually. These devastating injuries are accompanied with increased rates of depression and anxiety, related to a loss of autonomy and negative body image. Moreover, the adoption of conventional prostheses is as low as 50% due to their limited functionality and inability to meet the patients’ needs. I am developing a system which directly interfaces with the neural signals in the peripheral nervous system to fully recapitulate the degrees of freedom and sensory feedback of a human hand. A central challenge will be to mitigate the foreign body response, which impacts the longevity and fidelity of the device. My research will be focused on investigating the mechanisms behind intra-neural fibrosis and fabricating electrodes which minimize the interaction at the biotic/abiotic interface.