The Team

​Dan Blustein, Lab Director
Dr. Blustein is an assistant professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Rhodes College. When he isn't conducting research he enjoys playing volleyball & board games, trying new Memphis restaurants, and hanging with his partner and our new little addition.

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Undergraduate students

Erin Kuylenstierna, '22
Neuroscience major from Florida. When she isn't conducting research, she enjoys going to the beach and convincing people to watch Game of Thrones. ​

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Carolyn Maslanka,  '23
​Undecided major from New Jersey.  

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Kelley Parsons, '22
Neuroscience major from Texas. When she isn’t conducting research, she enjoys exploring new restaurants in Memphis and looking at pictures of huskies.

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Noah B. Mesa, '21
Neuroscience major from Tennessee. When he isn't conducting research, he enjoys debating philosophy with friends and avidly volunteering.

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Affiliated students

Oscar Ortiz Angulo - Kinesiology MSc candidate - University of New Brunswick
Cierra Stiegelmar - Neuroscience major - University of Alberta

Collaborators

Dr. Jacqueline Hebert - Associate Professor of Medicine - University of Alberta
Dr. Betsy Sanders - Associate Professor of Computer Science - Rhodes College
Dr. Jon Sensinger - Associate Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering - University of New Brunswick
Dr. Ahmed Shehata - Postdoctoral Research Fellow - University of Alberta
Dr. Jack Tsao - Professor of Neurology - University of Tennessee Health Science Center/VA Medical Center
​Katie Wilson - Project Engineer - University of New Brunswick

Past students

Luis Alfaro - Computer Science - Rhodes College
Dmitry Vyakhirev - Computer Science - Rhodes College 

Research Projects

• Prostheses
• Biomimetic robots
• Octopus intelligence

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Bridging nervous systems and prostheses

I currently use principles of neuroscience, engineering and mathematics to assess emerging prosthetic devices and to direct their improvement. This work has been part of a large project that aims to provide upper-limb amputees with more capable prostheses providing the sense of touch by directly connecting devices with nervous systems. The assessment tools provide feedback about various aspects of prostheses to help biomedical engineers target improvements to the weakest link in their systems. In this work we use mathematical methods to simulate the human nervous system and we use haptic (touch interface) devices to test how people plan and make movements. ​

Here I am working on a 3D virtual reality display and I'm holding the end of an integrated haptic device. The device provides pinpoint position information and can produce forces so the user can actually "feel" the 3D images that are displayed.

RELATED SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES:
Blustein, D, A Wilson & J Sensinger. 2018. Assessing the quality of supplementary sensory feedback using the crossmodal congruency task. Scientific Reports. DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-24560-3
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​Marasco, P, J Hebert, J Sensinger, C Shell, J Schofield, Z Thumser, R Nataraj, D Beckler, M Dawson, D Blustein, S Gill, B Mensh, R Granja-Vazquez, M Newcomb, J Carey, B Orzell. 2018. Illusory movement perception improves motor control for prosthetic hands. Science Translational Medicine. DOI:10.1126/scitranslmed.aao6990

Blustein, D, J Sensinger. 2017. Validation of a constrained-time movement task for use in rehabilitation outcome
measures. International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR). DOI:10.1109/ICORR.2017.8009410

Wilson, A, D Blustein, J Sensinger. 2017. A third arm - Design of a bypass prosthesis enabling incorporation. International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR). DOI:10.1109/ICORR.2017.8009441

Using robots to study neuroscience

I build robots that are designed to mimic real animals, like lobsters, jellyfish and honeybees. One reason to do this is to create a robot that can behave like an animal in the wild. Animals can figure their way out of tricky and unfamiliar situations, and it would be great if our robots could do the same. Modern robots often get stuck, lost, or break down, but that doesn’t happen very often with real animals. By mimicking the real animals, we hope to improve the capabilities of our robots.

The latest RoboLobster, the result of my PhD work

I also use the animal robots to expand our understanding of how the nervous system works. How does the lobster’s brain control leg movement when the animal is walking forward? We control a robotic lobster, RoboLobster, with a simulated nervous system based on what we think is actually going on in the real lobster. By comparing how RoboLobster and a real lobster behave under controlled environmental conditions, we can figure out what we do and don’t know about lobster nervous systems. If the lobster and robot behave differently, we know that something is wrong with our hypothesis of how the nervous system works, and we can run more biological experiments to figure out what is going on. By studying the relatively simple nervous system of a lobster, we can gain insight into the basics of how our own nervous systems work. Understanding such basic neuroscience principles may help us in the future to treat neurological problems such as strokes and traumatic brain injuries.

Here's me wiring up RoboLobster's leg assembly.

You can read more about why we use robots to study biology in this post by Angela, this Q&A with KatiePhd, or in this blog post I wrote. And for more info on our collaborative Robobees project, check out this article.
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RELATED SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES:

Westphal, A, D Blustein , and J Ayers. 2013. A biomimetic neuronal network-based controller for guided helicopter flight. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 8064:299-310.   [journal page] [pdf]

Ayers, J,  D Blustein & A Westphal. 2012. A Conserved Biomimetic Control Architecture for Walking, Swimming and Flying Robots. Lecture Notes on Artificial Intelligence, 7375, 1-12. [journal page] [pdf]

Ayers, J, A Westphal & D Blustein. 2011. A Conserved Neural Circuit-based Architecture for Ambulatory and Undulatory Biomimetic Robots. Marine Technology, 45(4):147-152.  [journal page] [pdf]

Blustein, D & J Ayers. 2010. A conserved network for control of arthropod exteroceptive optical flow reflexes during locomotion. Lect Notes Artificia lntelligence, 6226:72-81. [online excerpt] [pdf]

​Understanding the octopus' intelligence

We are just beginning to understand the remarkable intelligence of the octopus. I've conducted research at the Seattle Aquarium and in the field on the Caribbean island of Bonaire to study how octopus learn and the behavioral adaptations they've developed to survive and thrive.

Heading out for octopus field observations on the island of Bonaire.

Administering a cognitive test to "Billye" the Giant Pacific Octopus at the Seattle Aquarium.

RELATED SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES:

Blustein, DH and RC Anderson. 2016. Localization of octopus drill holes on cowries. American Malacological Bulletin. DOI: 10.4003/006.034.0101

Blustein, DH & RC Anderson. 2011. Octopuses drill crab chelae on the inside (oral side). The Festivus, 43(1):6-7.

Blustein, DH & RC Anderson. 2010. Cone shell found in an octopus midden in Bonaire. The Festivus, 42(10):131-132.

Anderson, RC & DH Blustein. 2006. Smart octopus? The Festivus, 38:79. [reprint]