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Kevin A. Mazurek, Ph.D.

Contact Information

Research Labs

Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory - Rochester

Visit Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory - Rochester Lab Website

Faculty Appointments

Biography

Professional Background

Dr. Mazurek received his Bachelors in electrical engineering from Brown University in 2008 and his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 2013. During his Ph.D., Dr. Mazurek collaborated with researchers as a visiting graduate student at the University of Alberta to develop control strategies for electrically stimulating the spinal cord to restore walking movements. Dr. Mazurek received an NIH NINDS F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Pre-doctoral Fellowship to develop a hardware system for using intraspinal microstimulation to electrically activate the spinal cord in a coordinated manner for restore walking. Upon receiving his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Mazurek joined the laboratory of Professor Marc Schieber in the Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience to study the cortical mechanisms controlling hand and finger movements. Kevin received an NIH T32 NRSA training fellowship through the Center for Visual Science at the University of Rochester and then an NIH NINDS F32 NRSA Fellowship to study how intracortical microstimulation can deliver instructional information to different cortical regions for performing specific movements. He then became a KL2 scholar after receiving the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) KL2 Award to study how cortical areas communicate information to perform voluntary movements and how neurologic diseases or injuries affect this communication. Dr. Mazurek's career goal is to apply his interdisciplinary training to understand how different areas of the brain communicate information when performing the same movements for different reasons in order to develop rehabilitative solutions for individuals with neurologic diseases.

Research

Dr. Mazurek studies the neural control of voluntary movements in order to develop rehabilitative solutions for individuals with neurologic diseases. His interdisciplinary research involves the fields of neuroscience, neurology, biomedical engineering, and electrical engineering to identify how neural activity changes when performing the same movements for different reasons. Dr. Mazurek applies brain-machine interface techniques to analyze neural activity from different areas of the brain while the same hand and finger movements are performed using different instruction modalities (e.g. sensory cues). He previously studied how intracortical microstimulation can be used to deliver information to different areas of the brain which can be interpreted and used as instructions for performing particular movements. Currently, he studies how voluntary movements can be performed in response to instructions involving different sensory modalities (e.g. auditory or visual) and contextual information (e.g. describing an object's identity or function). Dr. Mazurek's studies attempt to identify which areas of the brain communicate information and how that communication changes when performing the same movements in response to different instructions. By determining how different areas of the brain communicate and identifying where information can be delivered or augmented (using techniques such as electrical stimulation or augmented reality), Dr. Mazurek's long-term goal is to develop rehabilitative solutions that can restore function to individuals with neurologic diseases by effectively bypassing impaired or damaged neural connections.

Credentials

Education

2008
BS | Brown University
Electrical Engineering

2010
MS | Johns Hopkins University
Electrical Engineering

2013
PhD | Johns Hopkins University
Electrical Engineering

Post-doctoral Training & Residency

06/01/2018 - 0
KL2 Scholar, Clinical & Translational Science Institute (CTSI) University of Rochester

01/01/2014 - 05/31/2018
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Rochester Department of Neurology, Laboratory of Marc Schieber

Awards

2019
Futures in Neurological Research Scholarship (FiNR)
Location: American Academy of Neurology

2018
Neural Control of Movement Scholarship Award
Sponsor: Neural Control of Movement Society

2018
Future Clinical Researcher Scholarship Award
Sponsor: American Academy of Neurology

2018
Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists Nominee
Sponsor: University of Rochester

2018
Outstanding Postdoctoral Researcher Award
Sponsor: University of Rochester

2017
Second place in The Falling Walls Preliminary Conference at the University of Rochester
Location: Rochester, NY

2017
University of Rochester National Postdoc Appreciation Week Poster Presentation Award
Location: Rochester, NY

2017
University of Rochester Steadman Family Postdoctoral Associate Prize in Interdisciplinary Research
Location: Rochester, NY

2016
University of Rochester Neuroscience Retreat Poster Presentation Award
Location: Rochester, NY

2016
University of Rochester National Postdoc Appreciation Week Poster Presentation Award
Location: Rochester, NY

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Publications

Journal Articles

8/7/2023
Ruszala B, Mazurek KA, Schieber MH. "Somatosensory cortex microstimulation modulates primary motor and premotor cortex neurons with extensive spatial convergence and divergence." bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology.. 2023 Aug 7; Epub 2023 Aug 07.

6/6/2022
Patelaki E, Foxe JJ, Mazurek KA, Freedman EG. "Young adults who improve performance during dual-task walking show more flexible reallocation of cognitive resources: a mobile brain-body imaging (MoBI) study." Cerebral cortex.. 2022 Jun 6; Epub 2022 Jun 06.

2022
Byun K, Aristizabal S, Wu Y, Mullan AF, Carlin JD, West CP, Mazurek KA. "Investigating How Auditory and Visual Stimuli Promote Recovery After Stress With Potential Applications for Workplace Stress and Burnout: Protocol for a Randomized Trial." Frontiers in psychology.. 2022 13:897241. Epub 2022 Jun 02.

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