Speaker: Wendy Murray, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, The ARMS Lab at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab

Presentation Title: Advances in Biomedical Simulation of the Human Hand

Date and Time: Friday, October 4 at 12:00 PM CT

Location: Tech IEMS C211 and Zoom

Zoom Link: https://tinyurl.com/CRBSeminar

? NU-authenticated attendees will be automatically admitted. Others, please email amy.nedoss@northwestern.edu to be admitted from the waiting room.

Abstract:

One of the primary contributions of my career is the development of biomechanical models of the upper limb. Open-source kinematic and dynamic models of the upper limb that my group has developed capture critical components of the biomechanics of the shoulder, elbow, and wrist and have each been downloaded by the scientific community ~10,000 times. In addition to these established models, my lab has been working toward the explicit, ambitious goal of developing a full musculoskeletal model of the hand and wrist since I started my faculty position at Northwestern University in 2007. Our current biomechanical model of the hand, published in 2023, is the first to enable muscle-driven, forward-dynamics simulations of functional tasks that involve both coordinated kinematic and kinetic components for the whole hand. In the process of developing this model, my group has produced 18 publications describing a broad range of foundational, development work that was accomplished to arrive at this point. My talk will provide an overview of the anatomical, physiological, and technological factors we considered as we assembled the current model, provide examples of its capabilities, and discuss current applications.

Bio:

Dr. Murray is a Full Professor in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences. She is the Director of the Applied Research in Musculoskeletal Simulation (ARMS) laboratory, which is housed at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, where she is appointed as a Research Scientist. The foundation for Dr. Murray's work is the development of biomechanical models that accurately represent the mechanical actions of the upper extremity muscles. The models and corresponding anatomical databases that Dr. Murray has shared with the scientific community have been cited hundreds of times. The main thrust of her current research is the application of these models to better understand and, ultimately, to help improve function of the disabled upper limb. Her work has relevance over a broad scope, including basic motor control, the design of control systems for exoskeletons and upper limb prosthetics, restoration of hand and arm function following cervical spinal cord injury, rehabilitation of hand and arm function following stroke, orthopaedic interventions for osteoarthritis, and prevention of injuries in baseball pitching.