Meet Our Lab Members
Dr. Jinsook Roh
Dr. Jinsook Roh is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Houston, TX. Her research program focuses on understanding the neural mechanisms of motor coordination in healthy and pathological populations (esp. stroke) and translating the resultant scientific findings to develop new therapeutic strategies to improve motor function after neural injuries. She holds her graduate degree in Systems and Computational Neurosciences at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with undergraduate Physics background.
Before joining UH, she worked as an Assistant Professor in Kinesiology at Temple University. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (#1 rehabilitation research hospital for > 25 years in the US) and at Northwestern University. She has implemented research projects to identify and characterize abnormalities in synergistic muscle coordination in stroke survivors and to develop novel rehabilitation methods. Dr. Roh received several research awards and fellowships that include American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowship (2010-20120). Dr. Roh has been performing research projects supported by extramural funds, such as National Center for Neuromodulation for Rehabilitation (NC NM4R) Pilot Grant as the PI, American Heart Association Scientist Development Grant as the PI, NIH R01 as a co-I, and one international grant from National Rehabilitation Center in South Korea as the co-PI. She also likes teaching and mentoring students with diverse experiences. When she finds free time, she enjoys cooking Korean food, walking with her husband, and chatting with her friends with diverse backgrounds.
In her life, she found that the source of pure joy for her is to see positive changes in people’s life. That finding motivates her to do her science in human motor rehabilitation engineering.
Dr. Kyoungsoon Kim
Dr. Kyoungsoon Kim joined the REIGN lab in July 2023 as a Postdoctoral fellow. He has received NIH-funded fellowship from NeuralCODR (Neural Control of Organ Degeneration and Regeneration)postdoctoral training program. Dr. Kim holds his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University ofTexas at Austin, and BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering at Sogang University. His previous researchfocused on improving walking in people with stroke and transtibial amputees using engineering andneurophysiological approach. His current project focuses on identifying whether a myoelectrical signal-guided movement exercise with an “assist-as-needed” robotic environment normalizes impairedintermuscular coordination patterns in the Upper Extremity after stroke. His research interests are inrobotics, neurorehabilitation, and developing innovative rehabilitation technologies for neurologicalimpaired population. During his free time, he enjoys outdoor sports and cooking.
Yoon-No Gregory Hong
Yoon No Hong joined the REIGN lab as a Ph.D. student in June 2019. He did MS in Mechanical engineering at Colorado school of mines and at Sogang University, and BS in mechanical engineering at Sogang University. Since he studied the musculoskeletal level of human movements during his master's program, he joined the lab to learn more about the neuromuscular level. His research interests are characterizing motor impairment and developing a tool to quantify impairment level after stroke.
Manuel Portilla
Manuel from Quito, Ecuador, joined the lab in September 2020. Also, he worked as a lab technician in the Department of Kinesiology at Temple University. He did his MSc in Bioengineering at Temple University, Philadelphia, and BS in mechatronics at the Equinox University of Technology, Quito, Ecuador. The following list shows his research interests: 1) Neurorehabilitation, 2) Multivariable analysis methods for processing information, and 3) Neural mechanisms of motor coordination. His hobbies are programming and cooking.
Shahab Tavasoli
Shahab joined the REIGN lab in August 2023 to pursue his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering. He has acquired his BS and MS in mechanical engineering from the University of Tehran and the Sharif University of Technology respectively. Throughout his master's, he exploited synergy analysis to classify cerebral palsy gait kinematics. Therefore, he has started his Ph.D. to identify stroke neurorehabilitation strategies through motor coordination methods. His research interests mainly focus on Neuroscience, Optimization, and Data science. In his free time, he enjoys mountaineering, camping, and cooking.
Supraja Vaidhyanathan
Supraja Vaidhyanathan joined the REIGN Lab in the Fall of 2024 as a PhD student. She did her BE in Biomedical Engineering at SSN College of Engineering, Chennai. She is interested in biosignal processing, specifically EEG signals, and pursuing multimodal analysis of neurophysiological data to aid in rehabilitation. Her research interests also include Brain-Machine interfaces. Her hobbies are Bharatnatyam, reading, and creating art.
Sean Chakraborty
Sean Chakraborty is a graduate student who joined the lab in the Autumn of 2022. His research interests include brain machine interfacing and machine learning. In the lab, he is currently learning to improve his ability to code using Matlab, Labview, and Python. His hobbies include eating, listening to music, and story writing.
Spencer Turner
Spencer joined REIGN lab in the Fall of 2024 as a master's student. He got his BA in Neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder and worked at Houston Methodist as a RA before joining the lab. He likes to play golf when he has free time and is interested in neuroprosthetics and brain machine interfacing.
Anisa Abdulhussein
Anisa Abdulhussein joined the REIGN lab in September 2022 as an undergraduate research intern. She is currently a senior majoring in BME. She is interested in neurorehabilitation and the overall impacts biomedical engineering research can have on the quality of life for stroke patients. Her career goal is to go into medicine and practice as a physician utilizing her engineering background. In her free time, Anisa enjoys playing with her two dogs, baking, and watching new movies with her younger siblings.
Kenedy May
Kenedy May joined the REIGN lab in the Summer of 2024 as an intern with the NSAP program. She acquired her BS in Exercise Science with a minor in Nutrition at the University of Houston. She is soon to be pursuing a Doctor of Occupational Therapy degree, and her research interests include neurorehabilitation and the impact of using brain-machine interfaces to enhance rehabilitation among stroke patients. In the lab, Kenedy is working on improving her coding skills using MATLAB as well as gaining hands-on experience with data collection. Her career goal is to utilize her past experiences and education to provide quality care to patients, helping them reach the highest level of independence and quality of life. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, listening to music, reading, exercising, and cooking.
Marcus Tubera
Marcus Tubera is currently a junior majoring in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Houston. He joined the REIGN lab in Fall 2022 as an undergraduate research intern and is interested in rehabilitation robotics and machine learning. In the lab, he is working on improving his programming skills in MATLAB and C++ as well as broadening his knowledge in biomechanics. In his free time, his hobbies include video games, reading, and working out.
Haneef Mohammed
Haneef Mohammed joined the REIGN lab in March 2024 as an undergraduate research intern. He is currently a sophomore majoring in Psychology and minoring in Computer Science and Biology. He is interested in controller engineering and neurorehabilitation and how those fields can be utilized to restore fine motor control to stroke patients. He plans to pursue an M.D. and employ robotics in clinical rehabilitation. When free, he enjoys long-distance running and spending time with friends.
Alumni
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Gang Seo, PhD
Gang Seo successfully completed his Ph.D. degree in Spring 2023. He moved to Stanford University as a postdoctoral fellow in Fall 2023. He pursued both of his undergraduate(BS) and master's (MS) study in Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University, West Lafayette IN. His interest in human neuroscience led him to join the REIGN Lab where has a clear goal of investigating novel therapeutic approaches for stroke survivors who suffer from impaired neuromotor control. Outside of the lab, he often spends time playing musical instruments.
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Katherine Pham, MS
Katherine Pham graduated with a master's degree in August 2022.
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Anjan Nagesh, MS
Anjan Nagesh Ballekere is a first-year Master’s student in the Biomedical Engineering department at the University of Houston. He is following the Neural, Cognitive, and Rehabilitation engineering track and joined the REIGN lab in Summer 2020. He is interested in how computational data analysis can help further neurorehabilitation. He is currently working on a project to develop computational stroke assessment protocols to account for kinetic data. In his free time, he enjoys reading fiction and learning to cook.
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Attiya Hussaini, MS
Attiya Hussaini is currently a senior majoring in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Houston, following the Bionanoscience Track. She joined REIGN Lab as an undergraduate research intern in January 2021 and is hoping to learn about data collection in aspects of rehabilitation in stroke patients. After her undergraduate studies, she hopes to pursue optometry school to use her skills to impact lives. In her free time, she enjoys working on calligraphy and trying new foods.
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Amena Jangda, MS
Amena Jangda joined the REIGN lab in June 2021 as an undergraduate research intern. Her research interests are neurorehabilitation and instrumentation. She is currently working on building a wrist device that can assess the improvement of force control. In her free time, she likes to read and play volleyball.
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Hy Doan, MS
Hy Doan joined the REIGN lab in October 2020. Her research interest includes computational neuroscience and cognitive rehabilitation technologies. She is currently working on analyzing intermuscular coordination patterns of the human upper limb across different reaching conditions. Her hobbies are pilates/yoga, soccer, and cooking with friends and family.
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Yader Nicolas Niño
Yader Nicolas Nino has been an undergraduate research intern at Dr. Roh’s REIGN lab since January 2021. He is currently going into his senior year as a BME major at the University of Houston. His research interests are neural and physical rehabilitation. In the REIGN lab, he has helped with data collection and literature research. In his free time, Nicolas enjoys outdoor activities, playing video games, and playing guitar.
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Besmir Mucogllava
Besmir joined the REIGN lab in August 2023 to pursue his Master of Science degree in biomedical engineering. He earned his BS in Biomedical Engineering from LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas. Throughout his undergraduate studies, he worked on a senior design project aimed at designing and developing a medical-grade rehabilitation device for individuals with motor impairments due to neurological disorders, such as stroke and spinal cord injuries. This device utilizes the operant conditioning of the stretch reflex in the soleus muscle to reduce muscle spasticity. For his master's degree, he aims to expand his understanding of the mechanisms of neuromuscular coordination and develop novel ways to assess impairments following a stroke. In his free time, he enjoys working out, hanging out with friends, and reading.