McCraw Lecture: “Anatomics: Co-Engineering Body and Machine to Improve Bionic Performance”

Bionic technologies are transforming how people recover movement and function after injury, illness or limb loss. Devices such as prosthetic limbs, exoskeletons and implants can restore mobility, reduce pain and, in some cases, enhance physical abilities. Rather than designing these technologies around the limitations of the human body, Tyler Clites is exploring a new approach that considers the body and technology together from the start.

In this talk, Clites will introduce anatomics, an approach in which the human body and bionic technology are designed to work together as an integrated system. Drawing on his lab’s research, he will share innovative approaches to challenges involving amputation, limb preservation, joint replacement and paralysis. Examples include new types of orthopedic implants, magnetic connections between prosthetic devices and the body, and prosthetic devices covered with living human skin. He will also discuss how his team tests and evaluates these technologies through computer modeling, laboratory research and studies involving animals, donated human tissue and human participants.

Speaker

Tyler Clites

Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering, Mayo Clinic

Before joining Mayo Clinic, Tyler Clites was a faculty member in mechanical and aerospace engineering at UCLA for six years. He earned his Ph.D. through the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, where he helped develop a new surgical approach to limb amputation designed to improve communication between the nervous system and prosthetic devices. He later completed postdoctoral research in mechanical engineering and robotics at the University of Michigan. His work spans medicine, engineering and robotics and has been featured by TED, The New Yorker, The New York Times, 60 Minutes and CNN.