Spring Quarter 2026: on Mondays, April 6-June 8, 12-1pm
Body
Seminars that are in webinar format will be shared via weekly announcement emails and calendar invitations. If you would like to be added to the distribution list (Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, Northwestern University, and Affiliates only), please contact Miranda Nwakah mnwakah@sralab.org.
Apr. 6 -- Bashar Badran, PhD
Director, Neuro-X Lab & Associate Professor, Medical University of South Carolina
"Recent Advances in Noninvasive Vagus Nerve Stimulation: Mechanisms and Implications for Neurorehabilitation"
Location: Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, 12 Floor, Room IJK
Apr. 13 -- Babak Taati, PhD, PEng
Senior Scientist, KITE Research Institute, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute
"Overcoming Data Barriers in Clinical AI: Harmonizing and Synthesizing Movement Data"
Location: Virtual
Apr. 20 -- Doug Weber, PhD
Akhtar and Butta Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Neuroscience Institute, Carnegie Mellon University
"Bypassing, Augmenting, and Repairing Neuromotor Circuits to Restore Independence"
Location: Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, 12 Floor, Room IJK
Apr. 27 -- Nam Vo, PhD
Ruby and James Kang Endowed Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh
"Is Lactate Filth or Fuel? Metabolic and Epigenetic Roles in Disc Biology"
Location: Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, 10 Floor, Auditorium ABC
May 4 -- Anne-Marie Malfait, PhD
Klaus E. Kuettner Chair of Osteoarthritis Research, Department of Internal Medicine, Rush University
"Why Joint Pain Matters"
Location: Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, 12 Floor, Room IJK
May 11 -- John Finnan, PhD
Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois Chicago
"Who Can Take a Punch? Wrestling Traumatic Brain Injury into a Dish to Study Patient‑Specific Trauma Biomechanics, Electrophysiology, and Pathology"
Location: Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, 10 Floor, Auditorium ABC
May 18 -- Thanassis Rakakis, DMA
Professor, Iovine Young Academy for Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation, University of Southern California
"Explainable and Augmented Automated Rehabilitation Assessment (xAARA)"
Location: Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, 12 Floor, Room IJK
May 25 -- No scheduled seminar - Memorial Day
June 1 -- Senda Ajroud-Driss, MD
Les Turner ALS Foundation / Herbert C. Wenske Professor of Neurology (Neuromuscular Disease), Northwestern University
"From Charcot to Gene Therapy, the Evolution of ALS Diagnosis, Research and Treatment"
Location: Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, 12 Floor, Room IJK
June 8 -- Alena Grabowski, PhD
Associate Professor, Integrative Physiology, University of Colorado Boulder
"The Effects of Using Leg Prostheses from Walking to the Fastest Sprinting Speeds in the World"
Location: Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, 10 Floor, Auditorium ABC