Maria Jantz is a PhD student in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her undergraduate degree in Physics at Goshen College, where she developed an interest in prostheses. Following college, she worked with Professors Lee Miller and Matthew Tresch at Northwestern University to use functional electrical stimulation to restore locomotion following spinal cord injuries. Her current research focuses on rapidly-translatable methods to restore bladder function using electrical stimulation. She explores neural control of the bladder both experimentally and through computational modeling.
Research Interest Summary
Neuroprosthetics, bladder function, computational modeling, spinal cord injury, electrical stimulation
Research Interests
Restoration of bladder function is one of the highest priorities for people with spinal cord injury. Using electrical stimulation of the epidural spinal cord, Maria studies methods to selectively recruit nerves innervating the bladder and produce bladder functions. She simulates spinal cord stimulation in computational models to further characterize the effects of spinal cord stimulation on lower urinary tract nerves and bladder function.