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Eric Perreault, PhD
- Assistant Professor, BME, McCormick School of Engineering, NU
- Assistant Professor, PM&R, Feinberg School of Medicine, NU
- Research Scientist, SMPP, RIC
Locations
Research Interests
Eric Perreault, PhD is currently researching My research focuses on the multi-joint control of movement and posture in able-bodied individuals and individuals with neuromotor pathologies. Specifically, I am interested in understanding the relative roles of intrinsic muscle properties, limb geometry and neural activation in the control of whole limb mechanics. Generating voluntary movements and interacting with our physical environment is fundamental to carrying out the tasks of daily living, as evidenced by the severe limitations that beset those with movement disorders. Due to its importance, there is a long history of movement-related research, though few studies have attempted to understand the interactions between muscle properties, limb geometry and neural control. Because each of these systems contributes to the functional capabilities of a limb, the relative importance of each is best understood in the context of how these systems interact during typical motor tasks. Therefore, my research plan has three interdependent components: examining the role of muscle properties in the neural control of movement; determining how individual muscles contribute to whole limb biomechanics in the 6 degrees of freedom (DOF) relevant to functional tasks; and evaluating how spinal reflexes coordinate the actions of the multiple muscles within a limb. Understanding the functional interdependence of these often separately studied systems is critical to developing effective rehabilitative strategies for restoring motor function when one or more of these systems is compromised.
Education & Training
Education
- Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH
- Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering,, 2000
- McGill University, Montréal, PQ
- M.Eng., Electrical Engineering, 1992
- McGill University, Montréal, PQ
- B..Eng., Electrical Engineering, 1989
Awards & Recognition
2007 Selected as a Fellow for the Northwestern Center for Engineering Education Research (NCEER)
2006 Delsys Award for best EMG Presentation, Int. Soc. Electromyography and Kinesiology Conf.
2004 Searle Fellowship for Development of Teaching Excellence
2001 NSF Post-doctoral Fellowship in Biological Informatics
2001 NIH NRSA Training Grant (declined due to conflict with above award)
2000 NIH Post-doctoral Training Grant appointee
1999 3rd place IEEE/EMBS Student Paper Competition
1998 Veteran's Administration Pre-Doctoral Fellowship
1998 IEEE/EMBS Student Paper Competition Finalist
1997 1st place, student competition, 2nd Int. Functional Electrical Stimulation Soc. Conf., Vancouver
1997 1st place, student presentation, Biomed. Eng. Research Day, Case Western Reserve University
1995 NIH Pre-doctoral Training Grant appointee
1989 University Scholar (graduated in top 10% of Electrical Engineering class)
1989 Graduated with Distinction (University-wide graduating class GPA award)
1985 James McGill Scholar (GPA within top 5% of all University students)
Recent or Important Publications
Lewis GN, Mackinnon CD, Perreault EJ (2006) The effect of task instruction on the excitability of spinal and supraspinal reflex pathways projecting to the biceps muscle. Exp Brain Res. PMID: 16676166.
Westwick DT, Pohlmeyer EA, Solla SA, Miller LE, Perreault EJ (2006) Identification of multiple-input systems with highly coupled inputs: application to EMG prediction from multiple intracortical electrodes. Neural Comput 18: 329-355.
Lewis GN, Perreault EJ, MacKinnon CD (2005) The influence of perturbation duration and velocity on the long-latency response to stretch in the biceps muscle. Exp Brain Res 163(3):361-369.
Perreault EJ, Kirsch RF and Crago PE (2004) Multijoint dynamics and postural stability of the human arm, Exp Brain Res 157: 507-517.
Perreault EJ, Day SJ, Hulliger M, Heckman CJ, Sandercock TG (2003) Summation of motor unit forces in cat soleus during experimentally simulated recruitment. J Neurophysiol 89: 738.
Perreault EJ, Heckman CJ, Sandercock TG (2003) Hill muscle model errors during movement are greatest within the physiologically relevant range of motor unit firing rates. J Biomech 36: 211-218.
Perreault EJ, Kirsch RF and Crago PE (2002) Voluntary control of static endpoint stiffness during force regulation tasks. J Neurophysiol 87: 2808-2816.
Perreault EJ, Crago PE and Kirsch RF (2001) Postural arm control following cervical spinal cord injury. IEEE Trans. Neural Systems and Rehab. Eng. 9: 369-377.
Perreault EJ, Kirsch RF and Crago PE (2001) Effects of voluntary force generation on the elastic components of endpoint stiffness. Exp Brain Res 141: 312-323.
Perreault EJ, Crago PE, Kirsch RF (2000). Estimation of intrinsic and reflex contributions to muscle dynamics: a modeling study. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 47(11): 1413-21.