Current Members
Principal Investigator
Jonathan Viventi
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
j.viventi@duke.edu
Dr. Viventi’s research uses flexible electronics to create new technology for interfacing with the brain at high resolution over large areas. These new tools can help diagnose and treat neurological disorders such as epilepsy, and help improve the performance of brain machine interfaces.
PhD Students
Katrina Barth
PhD Student
katrina.barth@duke.edu
My interest in the field of neural electronics began as an undergraduate at Wake Forest University researching organic materials for use in thin-film transistors. This work introduced me to the many applications of flexible electronics, and I became especially fascinated by their use in neural [...]
Suseendrakumar Duraivel
PhD Student
suseendrakumar.duraivel@duke.edu
Being trained in electrical engineering, I got interested in neuroscience when I had an opportunity to attend deep brain stimulation surgeries at the University of Michigan. Further, examining neural signals in Parkinson patients for DBS targeting has motivated me to pursue my Ph.D [...]
Mackenna Hill
PhD Student
mackenna.hill@duke.edu
I have always been interested in how the brain functions. I became involved with the brain in a research setting at the University of Michigan Depression and Anxiety clinic where I worked to develop a computer training to help treat Social Anxiety Disorder and PTSD. Although I have yet to find [...]
Iakov Rachinskiy
PhD Student
iakov.rachinskiy@duke.edu
Having both great interest in the human nervous system and in designing solutions within the medical field, I found neural engineering as a great opportunity to combine my passions. I am currently working on developing high-density, chronically implantable devices with wireless communication [...]
Ceci Schmitz
PhD Student
cecilia.schmitz@duke.edu
My background in electrical engineering and interest in neurological disorders fostered a curiosity about how to interact with the nervous system using medical devices. As an undergraduate, I performed data analysis research with neural sensors for electroencephalography (EEG) and [...]
Gabriella Shull
PhD Student
gabriella.shull@duke.edu
I am currently exploring creating high bandwidth, novel neural interfaces in the Viventi lab. I started my career as an undergraduate researcher in an organ-in-a-chips lab modeling the small intestine to characterize drug toxicity. During my undergraduate studies I also worked in an inorganic [...]
Evan Smith
PhD Student
evan.smith@duke.edu
I am currently developing low-noise instrumentation and wireless solutions for neural interfaces. My interest in neural engineering was affirmed in serving as a research and development engineer in Duke’s Brain Stimulation Engineering Lab, following graduation from the University of North [...]
Zac Spalding
PhD Student
zac.spalding@duke.edu
My interests in neural engineering grew from seeing how a patient’s neural signals could be harnessed to restore motor ability to those who have lost such functions. From this, I became fascinated by how advances in signal processing enabled brain-computer interfaces to perform increasingly [...]
Undergraduates
Winnie Lu
Undergraduate Research Assistant
I am a junior studying Biomedical Engineering and Neuroscience, and am interested in understanding how neural devices work as well as their potential applications in treating neurological diseases. In the Viventi lab, I am working on optimizing LCP-based flexible microelectrode fabrication [...]