# RR&D Research Career Scientist Award Application

> **NIH VA IK6** · LOUIS STOKES CLEVELAND VA MEDICAL CENTER · 2022 · —

## Abstract

“… to feel my wife’s hand,” he said with tears in his eyes. This was our subject’s response when he was
asked what he wanted to get from participating in our study. His five simple words brought a tectonic shift in
my thinking and provided the deep purpose to my work. Patient’s do not need fancy technology. They need
to feel whole. They need to be connected. As a neural engineer, I develop neural interface technology that
connects to humans. Three additional words are needed to capture my passion and over-arching goal as a
VA Research Career Scientist: I develop nerve interface technology that connects to humans to connect humans.
 For nearly thirty years, I have combined a love for electrical engineering (B.S.E.E., 1992, Michigan
Technological Univ, Houghton, MI) and computation algorithms with fascination of the brain and
neuroscience to develop technology for communicating directly with the human nervous system (Ph.D.
Biomedical Engineering, 1999, Case Western Reserve Univ, Cleveland, OH). I am one of the world’s top experts
in development and translation of systems to precisely apply small electrical current injections to nerves to
cause targeted action potentials in nerves. Early in my career, I used this technology to restore lost function
following stroke or paralysis by activating muscles. I still actively collaborate with other VA investigators
(Drs. Ronald Triolo, Gilles Pinault, Bolu Ajiboye, Emily Graczyk, and Robert Kirsch) in a supporting role to
implement neural interface technology in clinical rehabilitation programs for spinal cord injury. A decade
ago, however, I became much more interested in the power of the technology to communicate to the brain
through sensory and autonomic systems. My VA activity fits into three area: 1) sensory technology for
veterans with limb loss; 2) hypertension control in veterans that have not been responsive to medications,
and 3) development of advances in peripheral nerve interface technology. Sensory Technology restores
both functional and emotional connection following limb loss of the upper extremity (with Drs. J. Robert
Anderson, Kevin Malone, Kyle Chepla, and Emily Graczyk) and lower extremity (with Drs. Ronald Triolo,
Gilles Pinault, and Hamid Chakhkar). My lab in the Cleveland VA Medical Center is the first in the world
to have a long-term implant of a peripheral interfaces for sensory restoration following limb loss. Eight
subjects, four with upper extremity and four with lower extremity limb loss, have been implanted. Over the
past four years, I have led a program funded by both the VA and the Defense Advance Research Projects
Agency to develop a fully implantable, Bluetooth®-connected system for bi-directional connection between
and external prosthesis and implanted interfaces. My team has secured all necessary regulatory approvals
to start the world’s first randomized clinical trial (RCT) of neural-connected advanced prostheses. Over the
next four years, this study will complete a criti...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10317820
- **Project number:** 1IK6RX003836-01
- **Recipient organization:** LOUIS STOKES CLEVELAND VA MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** DUSTIN J. TYLER
- **Activity code:** IK6 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-01-01 → 2026-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10317820

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10317820, RR&D Research Career Scientist Award Application (1IK6RX003836-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10317820. Licensed CC0.

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