France Magellan Project

Summer 2015, I worked three months as a biomedical engineering research intern with a company called CognAc-G at the University of Paris Descartes.  Overall, CogNac-G aims to analyze skeletal muscular activity in the body during the Gait cycle (walking cycle) using electromyograms (EMGs).  

I work at a cool place.

Basically, when you are walking, many activated motor neurons cause overlapping, asynchronous action potentials across muscle fibers which result in a small electric potential that can be recorded through electromyography.  An EMG is essentially a sensor that works by placing electrodes on the surface of the skin to track muscle activation.  In the lab, we found through our EMG data that specific muscle activation patterns—known as muscle synergies—tend to have certain similarities and certain differences between people, and we are trying to create hypotheses as to why that is.

CogNac-G Research Lab

If you didn't understand a word of that, don't worry.  It isn't as complicated as it sounds.