Zachariah J. Sperry, Ph.D.

Alumni

Biomedical Engineering

LinkedIn Profile

September 2014 - September 2019: Ph.D. Student

Research Interests:

Dorsal root ganglia (DRG) are promising sites for neural interface, but existing recording technologies are non-ideal. By incorporating a quantitative understanding of DRG anatomy, I am developing and testing novel, high-density flexible electrode arrays that are better suited to DRG recording. These new collaboratively developed tools could serve as foundations for future neural prosthetic research and therapies.

pNEURO Lab Publications:

  1. Ross SE, Sperry ZJ, Mahar CM, Bruns TM. "Hysteretic behavior of bladder afferent neurons in response to changes in bladder pressure," BMC Neuroscience, 17: 57, 2016.
  2. Khurram A, Ross SE, Sperry ZJ, Ouyang A, Stephan CJ, Jiman AA, and Bruns TM. "Chronic monitoring of lower urinary tract activity via a sacral dorsal root ganglia interface," Journal of Neural
    Engineering, 14: 036027, 2017.
  3. Ostrowski AK*, Sperry ZJ*, Kulik G, Bruns TM. "Analysis of feline dorsal root ganglia neuronal cell body distribution," Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 290:116-124, 2017. *Co-First Authors.
  4. Z.J. Sperry, K. Na, S.S. Parizi, H.J. Chiel, J. Seymour, E. Yoon, T.M. Bruns. “Flexible microelectrode array for interfacing with the surface of neural ganglia,” Journal of Neural Engineering, 15: 036027, 2018. 
  5. K. Na, Z.J. Sperry, J. Lu, M. Voeroeslakos, S.S. Parizi. T.M. Bruns, E. Yoon, J.P. Seymour. "Novel diamond shuttle to deliver flexible bioelectronics with reduced tissue compression." 2018. Preprint at bioRxiv.
  6. J. Ashton-Miller, L. Baroudi, B. Belmont, N. Comandante-Lou, J.A. Castor-Macias, K.E. Finn, D. Haji Ghaffari, R. Graham, J. Larouche, B.Y. Li, Y. Liu, A. Mittal, Z.J. Sperry, S. Tang, N. Villacis, M. Weivoda, R. Yung, H.J. Zander, Y. Zeng, M. Zhou. “A BioHackathon on the challenges of aging: Rapid need-finding and solution modeling in a student-led event.” engrXiv, 2019.  Article on engrXiv.
  7. Z. OuyangZ.J. SperryN. BarreraT.M. Bruns. "Real-time bladder pressure estimation for closed-loop control in a detrusor overactivity model." IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, DOI: 10.1109/TNSRE.2019.2912374, 2019.

pNEURO Lab Conference Proceedings:

  1. Ouyang Z, Barrera N, Marcu V, Socha A, Schwartz J, Sperry Z, Bruns TM. Behavioral Monitoring and Neuromodulation of Feline Voiding Function. Proceedings of 9th Intl IEEE EMBS Neural Engineering Conference, San Francisco, CA, March 20-23, 2019, 1058-1061.

pNEURO Lab Conference Abstracts:

  1. Ostrowski A, Sperry Z, Bruns TM. "Analysis of dorsal root ganglia cell density towards microelectrode array development," Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting, Tampa, FL,
    October 7-10, 2015. *Selected as Best Research Poster at University of Michigan Biomedical Engineering Department Career Day poster session, February, 2016.
  2. Ross SE, Sperry ZJ, Mahar CM, Bruns TM. "Quantification of hysteresis in bladder afferent neurons in response to changes in bladder pressure," Society for Neuroscience 45th Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, October 17-21, 2015.
  3. Khurram A, Ross SE, Jiman AAA, Sperry ZJ, Mahar CM, Bruns TM. "Chronic monitoring of lower urinary tract neurophysiology via sacral dorsal root ganglia," Society for Neuroscience 45th Annual
    Meeting, Chicago, IL, October 17-21, 2015.
  4. Sperry ZJ, Seymour JP, Wu F, Ross SE, Kim K, Bentley JT, Yoon E, Bruns TM. "Dorsal root ganglia neural recordings with a novel non-penetrating thin-film microelectrode array," Society for Neuroscience 45 th Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, October 17-21, 2015.
  5. Bennett KJ, Lester, P, Sperry ZJ, Bruns TM. Modifying rabbit anesthesia for increased surgical duration. AALAS Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ, November 1-4, 2015.
  6. Ross SE, Khurram A, Ouyang A, Jiman AA, Sperry ZJ, Stephen CJ, Bruns TM. Chronic monitoring and excitation of lower urinary tract function. International Conference for Advanced Neurotechnology, Ann Arbor, MI, June 13-14, 2016.
  7. Sperry ZJ, Seymour JP, Wu F, Ross SE, Kim K, Yoon E, Bruns TM. Dorsal root ganglia neural recordings and source localization with a novel non-penetrating thin-film microelectrode array. International Conference for Advanced Neurotechnology, Ann Arbor, MI, June 13-14, 2016.
  8. Na K, Seymour JP, Sperry ZJ, Bruns TM, Yoon E. Long-term evaluation of highly flexiblepolyimide arrays for peripheral nerve mapping. International Conference for Advanced Neurotechnology, Ann Arbor, MI, June 13-14, 2016.
  9. Ross SE, Khurram A, Ouyang A, Jiman AA, Sperry ZJ, Stephen CJ, Bruns TM. Chronic monitoring and excitation of lower urinary tract function. North American Neuromodulation Society – Neural Interfaces Conference Joint Meeting, Baltimore, MD, June 25-29, 2016.
  10. Sperry ZJ, Seymour JP, Wu F, Ross SE, Kim K, Yoon E, Bruns TM. Dorsal root ganglia neural recordings and source localization with a novel non-penetrating thin-film microelectrode array. North American Neuromodulation Society – Neural Interfaces Conference Joint Meeting, Baltimore, MD, June 25-29, 2016.
  11. Ross SE, Khurram A, Sperry ZJ, Jiman AAA, Ouyang A, Zimmerman LL, Stephan CJ, Mahar CM, Rice IC, Bruns TM. Chronic spinal root interfacing for closed-loop control of the bladder. IEEE EMBS Annual Conference, Orlando, FL, August 16-20, 2016.
  12. Ross SE, Ouyang A, Khurram A, Jiman AA, Sperry ZJ, Stephen CJ, Bruns TM. Chronic monitoring and stimulation of the lower urinary tract during sedated and awake testing. Society for Neuroscience 46 th Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, November 12-16, 2016.
  13. Sperry ZJ, Chiel HJ, Seymour JP, Lu H, Kehl CE, Na K, Yoon E, Bruns TM. High-density extracellular recording from the buccal ganglia of Aplysia californica using a novel thin-film electrode array. Society for Neuroscience 46 th Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, November 12-16, 2016.
  14. Sperry Z, Ostrowski A, Kulik G, Bruns TM. Analysis of dorsal root ganglia cell density towards microelectrode array development. Society for Neuroscience 46 th Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, November 12-16, 2016.
  15. Sperry ZJ, Na K, Parizi SS, Hilow HJ, Seymour JP, Yoon E, Bruns TM. Detecting bladder afferent activity from the surface of sacral dorsal root ganglia with a non-penetrating thin-film electrode array. Society for Neuroscience 47 th Annual Meeting, Washington D.C., November 11-15, 2017.
  16. Seymour J, Na K, Sperry Z, Parizi S, Bruns T, Yoon E. High-density flexible penetrating arrays in the dorsal root ganglia: a tool to map PNS afferents, IEEE EMBS Annual Conference, Honolulu, HI, July 17-21, 2018.
  17. Ouyang Z, Sperry ZJ, Barrera N, Bruns TM. Real-time estimation of bladder pressure through dorsal root ganglia recordings and closed-loop control in an overactive bladder feline model. Neural Interfaces Conference, Minneapolis, MN, June 25-27, 2018.
  18. Seymour J, Na K, Sperry Z, Parizi S, Bruns T, Yoon E. High-density flexible penetrating arrays in the dorsal root ganglia: a tool to map PNS afferents, IEEE EMBS Annual Conference, Honolulu, HI, July 17-21, 2018.
  19. Sperry ZJ, Peck-Dimit N, Graham RD, Lempka SF, Bruns TM. Three-dimensional reconstructions of dorsal root ganglia morphometry and cell distribution. Society for Neuroscience 48th Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, November 3-7, 2018.
  20. Ouyang Z, Barrera ND, Marcu VI, Schwartz JH, Socha AT, Sperry ZJ, Bruns TM. Behavioral monitoring and neuromodulation of feline bladder function. Society for Pelvic Research Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, December 1-2, 2018.
  21. Peck-Dimit N, Sperry ZJ, Graham RD, Lempka SF, Bruns TM: A graphical user interface for semiautomated identification of nerve elements, Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Fall Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, 2019. 
  22. Kadwani M, Graham RD, Sperry ZJ, Lempka SF, Bruns TM: Computational model of neural recordings in dorsal root ganglia, Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, 2019. 
  23. Sperry ZJ, Graham RD, Peck-Dimit N, Lempka SF, Bruns TM: Quantitative spatial models of neural distribution in human lumbar dorsal root ganglia, Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, 2019.
  24. Ouyang Z, Barrera N, Sperry ZJ, Bottorff EC, Bruns TM: Real time closed loop control of bladder function with dorsal root ganglia sensory feedback and sacral root electrical stimulation, Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, 2019.
  25. Ouyang Z, Barrera N, Sperry ZJ, Bottorff EC, Bruns TM: Real time closed loop control of bladder function with dorsal root ganglia sensory feedback and sacral root electrical stimulation, Fourth Annual Meeting of the Society for Pelvic Research, Charleston, SC, 2019.

Other pNEURO Lab Output:

  1. G. Kulik, Z.J. Sperry, A.K. Ostrowski, T.M. Bruns, “DRG Cross Section Analysis,” Open Science Framework, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/QQ9UJ7
  2. M. Levy, A. Khurram, S.E. Ross, Z.J. Sperry, A. Ouyang, A.A. Jiman, C.J. Stephan, T.M. Bruns, “Chronic monitoring of lower urinary tract activity via a sacral dorsal root ganglia interface,” Open Science Framework, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/WSBR6
  3. T.M. Bruns, S.E. Ross, N. Khandwala, C.M. Mahar, Z.J. Sperry, “Bladder Neuron Hysteresis,” Open Science Framework, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/2Y4DP
  4.  N. Peck-Dimit, Z.J. Sperry, T.M. Bruns. “Flexible microelectrode array recordings from neural ganglia,” Open Science Framework, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/68PU4
  5. Z. Ouyang, N. Barrera, Z. Sperry, T. Bruns. "Real-time estimation of bladder state in an overactive bladder model." Open Science Framework, 2019. https://osf.io/h6835/
  6. J. Ashton-Miller, L. Baroudi, B. Belmont, N. Comandante-Lou, J.A. Castor-Macias, K.E. Finn, D. Haji Ghaffari, R. Graham, J. Larouche, B.Y. Li, Y. Liu, A. Mittal, Z.J. Sperry, S. Tang, N. Villacis, M. Weivoda, R. Yung, H.J. Zander, Y. Zeng, M. Zhou. "A BioHackathon on the challenges of aging: Rapid need-finding and solution modeling in a student-led event." engrXiv, 2019.  Article on engrXiv.