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.

Faculty Appointments

Adjunct Assistant Professor - Department of Neuroscience (SMD)

Credentials

Post-doctoral Training & Residency

KL2 Scholar, Clinical & Translational Science Institute (CTSI) University of Rochester

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Rochester Department of Neurology, Laboratory of Marc Schieber 2014 - 2018

Education

PhD | Johns Hopkins University. Electrical Engineering. 2013

MS | Johns Hopkins University. Electrical Engineering. 2010

BS | Brown University. Electrical Engineering. 2008

Awards

Futures in Neurological Research Scholarship (FiNR). 2019

Neural Control of Movement Scholarship Award. 2018

Future Clinical Researcher Scholarship Award. 2018

Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists Nominee. 2018

Outstanding Postdoctoral Researcher Award. 2018

Second place in The Falling Walls Preliminary Conference at the University of Rochester. 2017

University of Rochester National Postdoc Appreciation Week Poster Presentation Award. 2017

University of Rochester Steadman Family Postdoctoral Associate Prize in Interdisciplinary Research. 2017

University of Rochester Neuroscience Retreat Poster Presentation Award. 2016

University of Rochester National Postdoc Appreciation Week Poster Presentation Award. 2016

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.

Publications

Journal Articles

Somatosensory cortex microstimulation modulates primary motor and premotor cortex neurons with extensive spatial convergence and divergence.

Ruszala B, Mazurek KA, Schieber MH

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology.. 2023 August 7 Epub 08/07/2023.

Young adults who improve performance during dual-task walking show more flexible reallocation of cognitive resources: a mobile brain-body imaging (MoBI) study.

Patelaki E, Foxe JJ, Mazurek KA, Freedman EG

Cerebral cortex.. 2022 June 6 Epub 06/06/2022.

Investigating How Auditory and Visual Stimuli Promote Recovery After Stress With Potential Applications for Workplace Stress and Burnout: Protocol for a Randomized Trial.

Byun K, Aristizabal S, Wu Y, Mullan AF, Carlin JD, West CP, Mazurek KA

Frontiers in psychology.. 2022 13 :897241. Epub 06/02/2022.

Neural Markers of Proactive and Reactive Cognitive Control Are Altered During Walking: A Mobile Brain-Body Imaging (MoBI) study.

Richardson DP, Foxe JJ, Mazurek KA, Abraham N, Freedman EG

NeuroImage.. 2021 December 23 :118853. Epub 12/23/2021.

Using the mobile brain/body imaging (MoBI) motion capture system to rapidly and accurately localize electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes in anatomic space.

Mazurek KA, Patelaki E, Foxe JJ, Freedman EG

The European journal of neuroscience.. 2020 October 25 Epub 10/25/2020.

Injecting Information into the Mammalian Cortex: Progress, Challenges, and Promise.

Mazurek KA, Schieber MH

The Neuroscientist : a review journal bringing neurobiology, neurology and psychiatry.. 2020 July 10 :1073858420936253. Epub 07/10/2020.

Mirror neurons precede non-mirror neurons during action execution.

Mazurek KA, Schieber MH

Journal of neurophysiology.. 2019 November 6 Epub 11/06/2019.

Utilizing high-density electroencephalography and motion capture technology to characterize sensorimotor integration while performing complex actions.

Mazurek KA, Richardson D, Abraham N, Foxe JJ, Freedman EG

IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering : a publication of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.. 2019 September 27 Epub 09/27/2019.

How is electrical stimulation of the brain experienced, and how can we tell? Selected considerations on sensorimotor function and speech.

Mazurek KA, Schieber MH

Cognitive neuropsychology.. 2019 36 (3-4):103-116. Epub 05/10/2019.

Highlights from the 28th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Neural Control of Movement.

Mazurek KA, Berger M, Bollu T, Chowdhury RH, Elangovan N, Kuling IA, Sohn MH

Journal of neurophysiology.. 2018 October 1120 (4):1671-1679. Epub 07/18/2018.

Mirror Neuron Populations Represent Sequences of Behavioral Epochs During Both Execution and Observation.

Mazurek KA, Rouse AG, Schieber MH

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience.. 2018 May 238 (18):4441-4455. Epub 04/13/2018.

Injecting Instructions into Premotor Cortex.

Mazurek KA, Schieber MH

Neuron.. 2017 December 2096 (6):1282-1289.e4. Epub 12/07/2017.

Intraspinal microstimulation produces over-ground walking in anesthetized cats.

Holinski BJ, Mazurek KA, Everaert DG, Toossi A, Lucas-Osma AM, Troyk P, Etienne-Cummings R, Stein RB, Mushahwar VK

Journal of neural engineering.. 2016 October 13 (5):056016. Epub 09/13/2016.

A Mixed-Signal VLSI System for Producing Temporally Adapting Intraspinal Microstimulation Patterns for Locomotion.

Mazurek KA, Holinski BJ, Everaert DG, Mushahwar VK, Etienne-Cummings R

IEEE transactions on biomedical circuits and systems.. 2016 August 10 (4):902-11. Epub 03/09/2016.

Feed forward and feedback control for over-ground locomotion in anaesthetized cats.

Mazurek KA, Holinski BJ, Everaert DG, Stein RB, Etienne-Cummings R, Mushahwar VK

Journal of neural engineering.. 2012 April 9 (2):026003. Epub 02/13/2012.

Parameter estimation of a spiking silicon neuron.

Russell A, Mazurek K, Mihala? S, Niebur E, Etienne-Cummings R

IEEE transactions on biomedical circuits and systems.. 2012 April 6 (2):133-41. Epub 1900 01 01.

Live demonstration: A tactile perception system for sensing the visual world

Rhoades, Colleen; Advani, Timothy; Mazurek, Kevin; Etienne-Cummings, Ralph;.

Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference (BioCAS), 2012 IEEE. 2012; : 92-92.

Intraspinal Microstimulation for Restoring Walking

Holinski, B; Mazurek, KA; Everaert, DG; Stein, RB; Etienne-Cummings, R; Mushahwar, VK;.

Conf Proc IFESS. 2012; .

Implementation of functional components of the locomotion processing unit

Mazurek, Kevin A; Etienne-Cummings, Ralph;.

Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference (BioCAS), 2011 IEEE. 2011; : 21-24.

Restoring stepping after spinal cord injury using intraspinal microstimulation and novel control strategies

Holinski, Bradley J; Mazurek, Kevin A; Everaert, Dirk G; Stein, Richard B; Mushahwar, Vivian K;.

Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, EMBC, 2011 Annual International Conference of the IEEE. 2011; : 5798-5801.

Restoring stepping after spinal cord injury using intraspinal microstimulation and novel control strategies.

Holinski BJ, Mazurek KA, Everaert DG, Stein RB, Mushahwar VK

Conference proceedings : ... Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.. 2011 2011 :5798-801. Epub 1900 01 01.

Locomotion processing unit

Mazurek, K; Holinski, BJ; Everaert, DG; Stein, RB; Mushahwar, VK; Etienne-Cummings, R;.

Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference (BioCAS), 2010 IEEE. 2010; : 286-289.

Configuring silicon neural networks using genetic algorithms

Orchard, Garrick; Russell, Alexander; Mazurek, Kevin; Tenore, Francesco; Etienne-Cummings, Ralph;.

Circuits and Systems, 2008. ISCAS 2008. IEEE International Symposium on. 2008; : 1048-1051.