Shelby R. Svientek

Shelby Svientek is a resident physician training in plastic surgery at the University of Michigan. She received her undergraduate degree with honors in Bioengineering from the University of Illinois. She completed her medical degree at Loyola University of Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine, graduating magna cum laude.

During her education and training, Dr. Svientek has always had a desire to become a physician-scientist, focusing the majority of her research interests on basic and translational medical research. During her undergraduate years, she worked in a laboratory specializing in customizable hydroxyapatite bone scaffolding intended for implantation in large bony defects. Later on in medical school, she joined a lab focused on the urinary biome and successfully developed a specialized collagen scaffold to support three-dimensional urothelial growth in vitro.

At present, Dr. Svientek has put her clinical training on hold to perform research in the Neuromuscular Laboratory at the University of Michigan as an NIH F32 Post-Doctoral Fellow. Her current research interests include further characterizing the regenerative peripheral nerve interface (RPNI) developed by the Neuromuscular Lab as a method for controlling advanced neuroprosthetic devices, as well as the integration of a dermal sensory component within this interface to provide simultaneous sensory feedback. Additionally, she is working towards the development of a similar RPNI construct to be used on intact peripheral nerves that has the potential to provide exoskeleton control, pain relief, and possibly even motor neuron lesion-related symptom treatment.