RESEARCH
BETTER SWALLOWING FOR BABIES BY ELAINE GUREGIAN
Photo left: Kendall Steer, a University of Akron undergraduate pursuing a career in speech pathology, left, with postdoctoral research fellow Christopher Mayerl, right Photo top right: Researchers can observe the infant pig’s sucking movements on a computer monitor. Photo bottom right: Max Johnson, research assistant, left, and postdoctoral research fellow Khaled Adjerid, right
22 C R E AT I N G
T R A N S F O R M AT I O N A L L E A D E R S
X
-ray on! Ready for pig! Belly band on! The scientists assembled in the lab call out their carefully orchestrated protocol and then intently observe an infant pig doing its mightiest to suck up some good gulps of milk. Difficulty with swallowing often goes along with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. It also affects premature babies. A group of NEOMED scientists is studying the mechanics of swallowing and looking for ways to improve the process. Like scientists in NEOMED’s other five Research Focus Areas, those in Musculoskeletal Research often collaborate with scientists outside the region. The photos shown here capture a day when a group of researchers in the lab of Rebecca German, Ph.D., professor of anatomy and neurobiology and co-director of musculoskeletal biomechanics, was joined by Nicole Danos, Ph.D., a scientist visiting from San Diego, to advance their study of designing a bottle and nipple to emulate breastfeeding for babies.
