People
Tamar Makin
tamar.makin@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
I am a neuroscientist heading the Plasticity Lab. My main interest is in understanding the key drivers and limitations of reorganisation in the adult brain. My primary models for this work are studying individuals with a hand loss and individuals learning to use hand augmentation devices. For this purpose, I integrate methods from the fields of neuroscience, engineering, experimental psychology and rehabilitation. I hope my research will promote prosperity of able and disabled users of motor assistance, substitution and augmentation technologies.
Dani Clode
dani.clode@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
I am a designer collaborating with the Plasticity team at the MRC-CBU. My background is in prosthetic arm design and human extension exploration, and I’m interested in forming strong connections between design and neuroscience. My Masters degree project - the Third Thumb, is a 3D printed supernumerary robotic thumb, which is currently the main tool for a fMRI study on how the brain adapts to the usage of devices that augment the capabilities of the human hand.
Hristo Dimitrov Hristo.Dimitrov@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
I am a postdoctoral researcher at MRC CBU at the University of Cambridge. My background is in control of active below-knee prostheses, where I combined neurophysiology with musculoskeletal mechanics, programming, engineering and machine learning towards the achievement of this goal. Currently, I am focusing on understanding phantom limb pain's origins, mechanisms, and relationship with motor control as well as studying motor learning involving prosthetic and assistive devices.
Celia Foster
Celia.Foster@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
I am a postdoctoral research fellow in the Plasticity lab. My background is in cognitive neuroscience and my research explores how our brain extracts information about body shape and position from diverse sensory input and integrates this information to form a multisensory body representation. I am currently leading a project investigating how the brain develops a new sensorimotor body representation for an additional robotic body part.
Payton Kang
Payton.Kang@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Plasticity Lab with a background in engineering, focusing on how humans perceive and interact with technology. My work integrates biomechatronics and machine learning methods to advance perceptual processing in human-machine systems, improving action recognition and motion reconstruction with greater accuracy and robustness. Currently, I focus on developing state estimation techniques for hand augmentation devices and decoding algorithms for human biosignals.
Lucy Dowdall
Lucy.Dowdall@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
I am a cognitive neuroscience postdoctoral researcher interested in sensorimotor learning and body augmentation, specifically the role of somatosenory feedback on our motor control, and how this may then interact with body representation. My work focuses on the use of body augmentation devices to explore the plasticity of our sensorimotor system. I am currently using the Third Thumb and a battery of neural and behavioural measures to investigate the brain’s ability to construct a sensory model of an augmentation device. Such work has applications for prosthetics and brain-machine interfaces.
Olivier Lecompte
Olivier.Lecompte@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Plasticity Lab with a background in engineering. My research focuses on haptic biofeedback for motor augmentation, using biomechatronics, robotics, and machine learning to investigate how artificial somatosensory feedback can be integrated into assistive technologies. I am interested in building novel robotic devices and understanding how humans adapt to and interact with them.
Maria Molina Sanchez
Maria.Molina@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
I am a PhD student in Cognitive Neuroscience at the MRC-CBU, with a neurology background. I am interested in how we consciously experiment our bodies. I am interested in how the body schema is modified by the incorporation of wearable technology. I am using the Third Thumb to study cortical reorganisation after the use of this device. I am also interested in how these technological devices can act as assistive technologies in neurological patients.
Maggie Szymanska Maggie.Szymanska@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
I am a PhD student at the Plasticity Lab, with a background in cognitive science and science communication. I am a member of the project BOLDkids (Brain Organisation in Limb Differences - http://boldkids.co.uk) for which we investigate unique brain and behavioural strategies that children with limb differences use when tackling everyday motor tasks. I’m also supporting research exploring the neural correlates of phantom limb sensation and pain post amputation, and how new techniques, such as targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR) can help amputees experience less pain.
Ema Jugović
Ema.Jugovic@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
I am a PhD student in Cognitive Neuroscience at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge. My background is in motor skill learning and I am interested in the ways the human brain implements control over body augmentative robotic devices, such as the Third Thumb. During my PhD, I am focused on investigating longitudinal changes in motor control of participants operating the Third Thumb using neuroimaging and behavioural measures. Additionally, my research explores implementing the Third Thumb in the wider population.
Julien Russ
Julien.Russ@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
I am a Photonics Engineering PhD student at the Plasticity Lab at the University of Cambridge. My background is mechatronics engineering, connected electronics and photonics systems. I am interested in the development of intelligent and autonomous systems, both hardware and software. Throughout my PhD, I will tackle the challenge of making motor augmentation systems autonomous through the means of EMG, computer vision, optical sensing systems to provide spatial awareness, as well as AI to predict the user’s intentions.
Allie Williams Allie.Williams@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
I am a PhD student at MRC CBU at the University of Cambridge. I am a yoga teacher with a background in strategic communication, and I am interested in how the brain learns to engage specific muscles in a targeted way. My project focuses on exploring the specific benefits of yoga as they relate to developing motor control and coordination through understanding how best to use wearable technology to support motor learning and enhance practice benefits.
Ariel Seng
GuanYu.Seng@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
I am a PhD Student working across a range of projects pertaining to assistive and augmentative technologies in patients with musculoskeletal and neurological dysfunction. As a physiotherapist with a Master’s in Clinical Neuroscience, I am fascinated by sensorimotor control — how we move, feel, and adapt — and what happens when these processes are disrupted by injury or disease. My goal is to work to bridge clinical expertise with emerging technology in order to develop smarter rehabilitation strategies that empower patients, optimise recovery, and push the boundaries of neurorehabilitation.
Alena Kern-Marro
alena.kern-marro@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
I am a PhD student at the Plasticity Lab, with a background in neuroscience and psychology. I study motor control through the development of wearable technology, with a focus on how the brain learns to control muscles we rarely engage deliberately and how sensory feedback can support that learning. My current project uses fMRI to test how different types of vibrotactile biofeedback shape representations in sensorimotor cortex, and which kinds of feedback are most effective for learning. I hope this work will inform the design of assistive devices that make motor training more intuitive.
Nađa Stojanović
nada.stojanovic@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
I am a research assistant in the Plasticity lab and my background is in computer science and cognitive neuroscience. I support projects investigating how the brain adapts to augmentative and assistive technologies, contributing across study design, data collection, and analysis where needed. I am particularly interested in questions of user intent and internal representations, and in how these can inform the design of augmentative devices.
Aishwarya Balasundar
Aishwarya.Balasundar@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
I am a Technical Designer and Research Technician in the Plasticity Lab, with a background in design engineering and human-centred product development. I contribute to research investigating how people interact with and adapt to augmentative and assistive technologies, working across study design, prototyping, participant testing, and data collection. I am interested in how user needs, behaviour, and experience can inform the development of technologies that extend human capability, and in translating insights from research into more intuitive, usable, and effective devices.
