Lab Members

Professor Shriya Srinivasan, PhD

Jennifer Leestma

Jenny is a postdoctoral fellow in the BIONICs Lab.  She received her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison as well as her M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Ph.D. in Robotics from Georgia Tech.  Her doctoral research focused on developing intelligent control methods for a robotic hip exoskeleton to augment balance during perturbed locomotion.  In the BIONICs Lab, Jenny is interested in restoring and augmenting sensorimotor function using neurosurgical design and implantable mechatronic devices.

Mali Halac

Mali is a Ph.D. student in bioengineering at Harvard SEAS. He received his bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Drexel University, focusing on wireless electronics and digital signal processing. His previous research involves non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) design, machine learning methods for neural signal processing, and algorithm development for molecular biology applications. At BIONICs Lab, he designs peripheral nerve interfaces with the goal of establishing functional recovery.

Patrick Pariseau

Patrick is a Ph.D. student in bioengineering at Harvard SEAS. He earned his bachelor’s degree in biomedical and electrical engineering from Case Western Reserve University, focusing on biomechanics and solid state electronic devices. His previous research entailed clinical experiments for improved motor control of upper limb prostheses, computational modeling of peripheral nerves, and development of bioresorbable electrodes. As a BIONICs Lab member, Patrick is interested in reconstructive surgeries and implantable electronics for treatment of neurological disorders.

Maggie Chen

Maggie is a Ph.D. student in Bioengineering at Harvard SEAS. She received her bachelor’s in both Neuroscience and Computer Science from the University of Toronto. Her previous research spans across various topics, from epidural spinal cord stimulation to single-cell RNA sequencing. Maggie hopes to bring together research from the BIONICs lab and the Biodesign lab at Harvard to innovate the interface between technology and the human body, furthering research on biomechanics, movement, and sensorimotor control. 

Andrea Elizabeth Biju

Andrea is a Ph.D. student in Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering at Harvard SEAS. She received her bachelor’s and master’s in Aerospace Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. Her previous research focuses on nonlinear dynamics and complex systems theory, which was developed to understand the occurrence of thermoacoustic instability in jet engines. Combining research from the Soft Math Lab and the BIONICs Lab at Harvard SEAS, Andrea hopes to bring an interdisciplinary approach to drive innovation in the theory of biomechanics and neural control.

Kohl Swift

Kohl is an MD-PhD student pursuing his MD at Harvard Medical School and his PhD at MIT in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics, both through the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program. He earned his bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Yale University, where he worked in the Blumenfeld lab studying the circuit mechanisms of altered consciousness during absence seizures. He then spent two years at the NIH Functional Neurosurgery Section using human intracortical microelectrode arrays to study neuronal population mechanisms of memory. As a BIONICs Lab member, Kohl is interested in developing and translating optical techniques for neuromodulation to improve treatment of neurological disorders.

Alejandro Diaz

Alejandro is a medical student in the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology Program. He graduated from the University of Washington-Seattle, where he conducted research in a neurosurgery biomaterials lab. He designed and fabricated electrode devices to investigate the relationship between electrical stimulation and osteogenesis through an in vitro model. After graduating, he worked for two years as a bioreactor scientist at a process development company that focused on manufacturing low-cost, antibody drugs. He is currently interested in utilizing electrical stimulation to restore functional control of organ systems through non-invasive electrode implantation strategies.

Alexander Madinger

Alexander is a Technical Associate in the Langer Lab at MIT. Alexander received his BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Missouri – Columbia. During his undergrad, Alexander developed a novel surgical device alongside an ENT surgeon. Alexander works on fabrication of implantable electrophysiology devices and designs experiments for their quantification and qualification. Alexander has an extensive history in additive manufacturing and digital fabrication, ranging from aerospace nickel superalloy heat exchangers to medical titanium implants. Alexander is currently taking classes and writing a thesis towards a masters while working in the lab.

Lisa Gferer, MD, PhD

Lisa Gfrerer is Assistant Professor in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM). She received her MD degree at the Medical School of Vienna prior to completing a PhD in Genetics at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. She graduated from the Harvard Integrated Plastic Surgery Residency Program, and completed the Advanced Peripheral Nerve and Microsurgery at the  Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Clinically, her focus is peripheral nerve surgery including headache surgery, breast reinnervation, as well as advanced nerve reconstruction for restoration of motor and sensory function after iatrogenic and accidental injury. She has built a multi- institutional research program for headache surgery, breast/chest reinnervation, as well as functional nerve disorders and nerve pain. As an affiliate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) she has further focused on innovation and device development to enhance peripheral nerve regeneration.

Avik Som, MD, PhD

Avik Som, MD, PhD is an interventional radiology resident at MGH specializing on the minimally invasive applications of biomaterials using image guidance.  He helps lead the IR Device lab at MGH, irlab.mgh.harvard.edu, and works as a visiting scientist in the Langer/Traverso labs, as well as in the Mahmood/ Wehrenberg-Klee labs at MGH.  He completed his MD/PhD at Washington University in St. Louis with Dr. Samuel Achilefu.

Joshua D. Bernstock, MD, PhD, MPH

Joshua is a resident physician (Neurosurgery) at Brigham and Women’s and Boston Children’s Hospitals who intends to specialize in in pediatric neurosurgical oncology. Joshua has diverse medical/surgical knowledge with unique expertise in the repositioning of approved drugs and the development/characterization of novel/experimental immunotherapeutics. Joshua works on basic and translational immunotherapy projects related to pediatric neuro-oncology and participated in the first-in-children trial of intratumoral oHSV (G207) in recurrent supratentorial malignant brain tumors (NCT02457845) and first-in-human trial of G207 in recurrent cerebellar tumors (NCT03911388).

Vlad Tereshenko, MD, PhD

Vlad is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. He graduated from the MD-PhD program at the Medical University of Vienna and the Clinical Laboratory for Bionic Extremity Reconstruction in Austria, where he focused his research on restoring sensory feedback in bionic reconstruction. Vlad has acquired diverse clinical and fundamental scientific expertise in peripheral nerve research, experimental microsurgery, and peripheral neural interfaces. Currently, he is engaged in biomedical and translational projects related to identifying the nociceptive origin of occipital neuralgia and painful neuroma. As an affiliated researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, he continues his pursuit of restoring sensory and proprioceptive feedback in bionic hands. He also works on device development to optimize peripheral nerve surgery.

Braden Kuo, MD

Dr. Braden Kuo is Director for the Center for Neurointestinal Health at the GI Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is active clinically seeing patients and training the next generation of GI Brain Gut clinicians and researchers  in the Advanced GI Motility Fellowship. He has led numerous multicenter clinical trials in gastroparesis and diagnostic device evaluation for measuring GI transit. He has received funded from the American Gastroenterology Association as well as from the NIH and philanthropy. He has also authored over 120 publications including numerous book chapters, primary investigation and the recent ACG guidelines for Gastroparesis from the American College of Gastroenterology and served editor for the most recent textbook in Gastroparesis.

Shen Ning, MD, PhD

Shen is a Diagnostic/Interventional Radiology resident at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) interested in developing minimally invasive technologies to tackle clinical unmet needs. She holds a MD/PhD from Boston University School of Medicine and conducted her PhD work at the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at MGH under the guidance of Drs. Rudolph Tanzi and Doo Yeon Kim. She is the co-founder of the non-profit podcast, Science Rehashed, and a bioelectronic startup, INIA Biosciences. She was previously awarded the NRSA (F30) Fellowship, the BUnano Cross Disciplinary Fellowship, and a Fulbright Research Fellowship to pursue work on multi-functional biomedical microrobots at ETH Zurich. 

Ben Johnston, MD, PhD

Ben is a neurosurgery resident at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. Ben’s doctoral work was on regeneration across long-gap peripheral nerve injuries and neuroma pain. He has completed sub-specialty training in peripheral nerve surgery at MGH and spine surgery at BWH.