Regenerative Neurobiology and Neuroelectronics Group
Our research centers in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in axon guidance and target recognition and clinical neuromodulation of the PNS. Specific areas of interest include: spinal cord injury, peripheral nerve gap repair, and regenerative peripheral neurointerfaces for the control and feel or robotic prosthetic limbs, and bioelectronics medicines. A long-term goal of our research is to develop devices that allow the bilateral neural interfacing in peripheral nerves with the capability for specific recording from motor axons and stimulation of modality-specific sensory neurons.
Dr. Romero-Ortega is Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Biomedical Sciences in the College of Medicine, at the University of Houston. He serves as the BMEN Undergraduate Studies Director. He received his doctorate in Neuroscience from Tulane University and postdoctoral training at The Univ. Texas Southwestern Med Ctr (UTSW) as Associate Member of the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation Research Consortium on Spinal Cord Injury. He served as Director of the Regenerative Neurobiology Research Division at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital, and as Faculty of Neurology and Plastic Surgery at UTSW..
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His work has been presented in more than 190 publications and a similar number of invited lectures and focuses on the understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in axon guidance and target recognition and clinical neuromodulation of the peripheral nervous system. Specific areas of interest are: spinal cord injury, peripheral nerve gap repair, and regenerative peripheral neurointerfaces for the control and feel or robotic prosthetic limbs, and bioelectronics medicine applications. He serves in the Editorial Boards of the Open Journal in Medicine and Biology, and the Journal of Bioelectronic Medicine, and as Associate Editor of Frontiers in Neuroengineering. He has been a Reviewer for 31 Scientific Journals, and panelist Reviewer for the VA, DoD, NIH and International Foundations. He serves as President of the Monterrey Institute of Technology Biomedical Engineering Advisory Board, and Chair of the IEEE Healthcare Innovations and Point of Care Technology Annual conference (HI-POCT 23). He has been awarded the Engineering Excellence in Research Award, the TechFortWorth Impact Award, “Ten Most Promising Life Science Company Award”, the Tech Titans Award in Technology Innovation, and the Industry Partner Award by Massachusetts Med. Dev Ctr. His work has received funding from NIH NIDDS and NIDDK, DARPA, American Heart Association and GlaskoSmith Kline, among others. He is an inventor in 6 awarded and 5 pending patents, and Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of RBI Medical Inc and Pioneer Neurotech Inc.