Hot Topics Panel

Speaker Information:

Stem Cell Update
Iona Nova, Ph.D

Professor Iona Novak is the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Chair of Allied Health at the University of Sydney, Australia. Iona is an international keynote speaker and Fulbright Scholar. She is widely regarded as a trusted source on evidence-based practice. Her research aims to discover, test, and translate new treatments, in priority areas identified by people with cerebral palsy. Iona has made significant contributions nationally and internationally, in early diagnosis, and the discovery of new therapies. Iona also established the “Xcellerate” Network, which is an Australian and American Cerebral Palsy Stem Cell Research group committed to finding cures for brain injury.

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Metabolomics Panel Summary:

We will focus on using biological markers to develop novel, individualized rehabilitation regimens and exercise strategies for individuals with musculoskeletal disease. In our study, we applied this biomarker technology to investigate differences in metabolic markers in walking adolescents and young adults with cerebral palsy compared to those without.

Prakash Jayabalan, MD, Ph.D

Dr. Prakash Jayabalan, the PI for the project, is the Physician Scientist Director of the Nancy W. Knowles Strength and Endurance Lab at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. His lab team is focused on using biological markers to develop novel, individualized rehabilitation regimens and exercise strategies for individuals with musculoskeletal disease. In their study they applied this biomarker technology to investigate differences in metabolic markers in walking adolescents and young adults with cerebral palsy compared to those without. This work will presented by the project’s first author, Chad Hanaoka who is a 4^th year medical student from Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine.

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Smart Wheelchair Panel Summary:

We envision a future where partial-autonomy in powered wheelchairs will be the standard: when a person is being fit for a wheelchair by a therapist, a variety of autonomy options will be available, just as today, a variety of seating options are available. Robotic autonomy can help with obstacle avoidance, navigation, route planning, and spatially-constrained maneuvers. We are developing a shared-autonomy wheelchair where the machine automation is customized to the physical needs and personal preferences of the user.

Brenna Argall, Ph.D

Brenna Argall is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Computer Science, and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at Northwestern University. She is Founder and Director of the Assistive & Rehabilitation Robotics Laboratory (Argallab) at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago), the #1-ranked rehabilitation hospital in the United States.

The mission of the Argallab is to advance human ability by leveraging robotics autonomy. Dr. Argall is an elected Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers, a recipient of the NSF CAREER award, and was named one of the 40 under 40 by Crain’s Chicago Business. Her Ph.D. in Robotics (2009) was received from the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, as well as her B.S. in Mathematics (2002). Prior to joining Northwestern and RIC, she was a postdoctoral fellow (2009-2011) at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and prior to graduate school she held a Computational Biology position at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). More recently (2019), she was a visiting Research Fellow at the Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering in Geneva, Switzerland.