The following faculty members joined Case Western Reserve University’s Department of Biomedical Engineering at the start of the 2024-25 academic year, expanding the department’s expertise in artificial intelligence, biomedical imaging and neural engineering and rehabilitation.
Rui Cao
Rui Cao was named an assistant professor in the Biomedical Engineering Department at the School of Medicine in September 2024. “The opportunity to work in an environment that bridges cutting-edge research with direct clinical application is a major draw for those of us who are developing biomedical imaging devices,” he says. “Additionally, the collaborative atmosphere and the institution’s commitment to advancing healthcare through innovation aligned perfectly with my professional goals.”
The Cao Lab at CWRU is primarily focused on advancing photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging technologies. The team develops novel hardware devices and sophisticated algorithms to push the limits of imaging resolution and sensitivity. Its research spans a variety of applications, including pathology, tumor and brain imaging, hemodynamics and oxygen metabolism.
“By combining hardware innovations with computational techniques, our goal is to enhance early disease detection and diagnostic accuracy,” says Cao.
One of Cao’s notable projects, funded by a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institutes of Health, entails developing deep learning-assisted photoacoustic histology for real-time interoperative pathological diagnosis.
“The approach leverages artificial intelligence and label-free photoacoustic imaging to provide immediate, accurate diagnostic feedback during surgical procedures,” says Cao. A December 2024 article in the journal Science Advances details the latest findings.
“Ultimately, I hope our work will translate into practical clinical tools that enhance patient care, while also mentoring the next generation of biomedical engineers to drive further innovations in the field,” he says.
Hamid Charkhkar
Hamid Charkhkar was a post-doctoral scholar and senior research associate in the Biomedical Engineering Department before being appointed an assistant professor in July 2024.
“Case has very talented undergraduate students,” says Charkhkar. “When the opportunity presented itself to become a member of the faculty, I wanted to expand my collaborations and become more involved with the student body.”
Charkhkar’s research aims to restore sensorimotor function to people with lower limb loss or neuromusculoskeletal impairment. His team developed a prosthesis that directly connects to the nervous system and re-establishes a link that was there prior to the amputation.
“When people lose a limb, the remaining highways – the nerves – are still there,” he says. “If you can develop a tool to put information in those highways and connect the flow of information with a robotic prosthesis, you can achieve a more natural and intuitive prosthesis/human interaction.”
Charkhkar’s team uses a closed-loop feedback system with their sensory neuroprosthesis to explore the effects of foot sensory feedback on balance, locomotion and activities of daily living. Last year, he received a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to study effects of the neuroprosthesis when it’s used at home and in the community during daily activities rather than in a lab setting.
Collaboration is key to Charkhkar’s research. Co-investigators on the DOD grant include colleagues in Case’s Department of Biomedical Engineering and clinicians from the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
“I truly appreciate the level of interdisciplinary work that goes on at Case, especially with all the hospitals right around the campus,” says Charkhkar. “Every day I interact with clinicians and prosthesis users. It’s a level of engagement that you don’t normally see at other universities.”
In addition to his role at Case, Charkhkar holds two positions at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center. He is Director of Limb Loss and Prosthetics Research and an investigator at the Advanced Platform Technology Center.
“Overall, my goal is to look more holistically at developing technology that can help people with mobility issues,” he says. “If people can walk – if they can be pain-free on their feet – that would affect their overall health and quality of life.
Ana Hernandez Reynoso
When Ana Hernandez Reynoso was considering options after completing post-doctoral work at the University of Texas at Dallas, she listened to the advice of Joseph Pancrazio, her mentor and vice president of research at the university. “He told me that Case has a wonderful environment, collaborators and mentors. It has everything you need to succeed,” recalls Hernandez Reynoso.
Since joining Case Western Reserve University’s Biomedical Engineering Department in September 2024, she has discovered first-hand the accuracy of Pancrazio’s assessment. Hernandez Reynoso has fostered relationships with several professors in the department and throughout the university, as well as physicians and researchers at local hospitals, including Margot Damaser in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute.
“These collaborations allow me to have the greatest impact on my research, which centers around neurostimulation for rehabilitation,” she says. Hernandez Reynoso’s current project focuses on one of the main concerns for people with spinal cord injuries (SCI) – urinary dysfunction. Her laboratory is developing a novel approach to restoring urinary function after SCI.
“Instead of using electrodes to control when the bladder needs to void or the urethra needs to close so there is no involuntary leakage, we are teaching individuals with incomplete SCI how to regain control of their bladders through neuroplasticity,” she says.
Hernandez Reynoso uses vagus nerve stimulation to promote neuroplasticity and pairs that with bladder rehabilitation. The project is funded through a K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institutes of Health. In addition, she investigates strategies to improve the safety and reliability of neural interfaces for stimulation and recording.
Along with research, Hernandez Reynoso is committed to mentoring the next generation of biomedical engineers just as Pancrazio guided her. She recently became faculty mentor for the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers at Case, and she served as faculty mentor for Iris Lai, a biomedical engineering student who won first place in the engineering division of the university’s fall 2024 Intersections undergraduate research presentation awards.
“I feel grateful to be in the position to help students,” says Hernandez Reynoso. “I really care about their interests.
Luke Osborn
Luke Osborn grew up building things for fun, so it’s no surprise he was attracted to the field of engineering in college. Now he aims to build technologies that restore, augment and enhance human function.
“There are lots of great examples of assistive devices that help make humans more functional – wheelchairs, glasses, prosthetic devices,” says Osborn, who was appointed assistant professor in July 2024. “But it’s interesting to ask why we can’t go even further. Why can’t we enhance our sense of touch rather than just restoring it, building a device that gives us better sensitivity or new sensations?”
Osborn was a senior researcher at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Lab prior to joining Case, where he was attracted to the university’s long history in neural engineering research.
“Case Western Reserve has been the leader in this space for so long and being able to be part of that is exciting,” says Osborn. “I feel like I can learn from – and contribute to – all the great institutional knowledge here.”
Osborn is a member of the Human Fusions Institute (HFI) at CWRU, a multi-disciplinary team of experts committed to developing human-centered, socially and environmentally responsible technologies. His lab at HFI will build artificial skins for robots and other neuroengineered technologies that interface with humans, then measure and try to understand how that interaction affects humans. It’s an extension of the work Osborn began as a graduate student when he developed e-dermis artificial skin. When placed over the fingertips of a prosthetic, it mimics nerve endings and facilitates a sense of touch. It can also be placed onto robots to allow them to feel things.
“What gets really interesting is how we can connect a neuromorphic e-dermis to provide new types of feedback to a human who is controlling that robot, whether it’s a prosthetic limb, a teleoperating surgical robot or an astronaut controlling the Mars Rover,” he says.
Osborn’s groundbreaking research has garnered several accolades in his young career. He was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 – Science list in 2019, and the e-dermis team earned the Misha Mahawold Prize for Neuromorphic Engineering in 2022. While the recognition is gratifying, it’s not the driving force behind Osborn’s work.
“Ultimately, we’re trying to figure out how these new technologies impact the way the human brain works – how people behave and function,” he says