Curriculum Vitae

Multidisciplinary engineer skilled in project management - 14 years. Experience working with Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Pediatric and adult clinical research experience quantifying gastrointestinal motility disorders via magneto- and electrophysiology. Basic science work in microfluidics and pathway analysis. Strong background in writing and verbalizing science effectively. Demonstrated technical skills and project leadership across projects in biology, medicine, and engineering.

EDUCATION

PhD - Vanderbilt University | Biomedical Engineering | GPA 3.7

August 2019 – May 2025 Progress towards bridging the gap between noninvasive electrophysiological and electromagnetic measurements and microphysiological systems to detect, characterize, and treat gastrointestinal disorders

Committee: John P. Wikswo, L. Alan Bradshaw, Cynthia Reinhart-King, Richard Caprioli, Fredrick Haselton, Sari Acra MD

BS - Lipscomb University | Molecular Biology

August 2008 – May 2012 Minors: Psychology and Chemistry

Key Skills

CAD Software Fusion 360 - AutoCAD - Solidworks

Programming MATLAB - NI LabView - Canvas - Python - CorelDraw

Technical Expertise Signal processing - Superconduction - Microfluidics - Fluid dynamics - Cryogenics - Thermoforming - Computational modeling

Research & Development Noninvasive diagnostics - Mathematical modeling - Advanced biomedical equipment calibration - Clinical trial coordination

Project Management Strategic planning - Timeline optimization - Resource negotiation - Team leadership

Data Analysis & Visualization Statistical analysis - Data visualization tools - Automated machine learning pipelines - Multi-omics/ big data analysis

Regulatory Knowledge Proficient in IRB/IACUC protocols, AAALAC, and USDA regulations

Communication & Teaching Technical writing - Scientific presentation - Public speaking - Curriculum development - Mentoring

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Project 1: Gastrointestinal SQUID Technologies Laboratory May 2011 - October 2024

Biomedical Engineer, Project Manager, Clinical Research Coordinator | Advisor: L. Alan Bradshaw, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Clinical Research in neonates, children, and adults
Participated in the design and execution of bio-electro-magnetic methods as a noninvasive clinical screening tool for improving the care of patients suffering from gastrointestinal (GI) disorders
Installed, tested, and calibrated various biomedical equipment, including a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) and helium cryocooler
Developed digital signal processing methods to detect and classify GI electrical propagation patterns for diagnosing gastric dysrhythmias
Utilized mathematical modeling of gastrointestinal electrophysiology to validate gastric dysrhythmias
Wrote MATLAB code to analyze gastric dysrhythmias in LabView
Negotiated institutional-wide helium contact
Performed myriad surgical operations on porcine subjects
Patient recruitment
Study design
Electrode array design
Generated multimillion dollar bugdets for multi-year grants

Project 2: DARPA Rapid Threat Assessment for Chemical and Biological Warfare Defense June 2014 – April 2021

Engineering Team Lead, Biomedical Engineer, Project Manager | Advisors: John P. Wikswo, Richard Caprioli, Vanderbilt University

Developed a system for rapidly heating and/or cooling cells+toxin to achieve metabolic cessation
Fabricated a microfluidic system for rapidly mixing and exposing cells to toxin in the seconds to milliseconds range
Validated microfluidic system using mathematical and computational modeling
Built analytics reports using data extracted from fabricated systems to report to DARPA monthly
Strategized timeline of goals and tactics to reach DARPA’s annual milestones

Project 3: Organ-on-a-Chip Dec 2018 – April 2021

Advisor: John P. Wikswo, Vanderbilt University

Developed openable gut-on-a-chip for multi-omic analyses of host-pathogen interactions
Utilized human-derived intestinal stem cells from tissue explants to seed organ-on-a-chip platform
Developed standard operating procedures for microfluidic platform

HONORS AND AWARDS

Young Investigator Award, International Gastrointestinal Electrophysiology Society - 2024 “Quantifying Pediatric Functional Nausea”
Vanderbilt Sesquicentennial Scholarship Exhibition, Top 10 - 2024 “Simple Flow: A method for cell exposure to drugs or toxins with precise metabolic cessation on the millisecond timescale.”
Best Abstract, Digestive Disease Week, America Gastroenterological Association 2023 “Noninvasive Bioelectric Signatures to Quantify Nausea Severity in Pediatric Functional Nausea”
Young Investigator Award, American Gastroenterological Association - 2016 “High-density electrogastrogram identifies spatial dysrhythmias in adolescent patients with chronic idiopathic nausea: a preliminary study”
Benjamin Franklin Fellowship (declined) - 2016 US Department of State, Washington DC
Robert Stern Award, International Gastrointestinal Electrophysiology Society - 2015 “Experimental Recording and Analysis of Mucosal and Serosal Slow Wave Activity in Porcine Colon”
98th Percentile, American Chemical Society - 2010 National Organic Chemistry Exam

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

ECE 5358 Control Systems II, Vanderbilt Spring 2024 State-Space Modelling, Digital Control, Fuzzy Control, Nonlinear Control BME 3900 Biomedical Engineering Lab II, Vanderbilt Fall 2023 Scientific Writing and Adaptive Technology BME 2900 Biomedical Engineering Lab I, Vanderbilt Spring 2023 Scientific Writing and Adaptive Technology ES 1401 Introduction to Engineering Fall 2022 Microfluidic Design and Development Scientist in the Classroom Partnership July 2022 - May 2023 Collaboration with NIH and Metro Nashville Public Schools 5-8 Scientist in the Classroom Partnership July 2021 - May 2022 Collaboration with NIH and Metro Nashville Public Schools 5-8

PATENTS

Caprioli, Richard, John Wikswo, John McLean, Eric Skaar, Jeremy L. Norris, Dana Borden Lacy, Stacy Sherrod, James Pino, Danielle Gutierrez, Nicole D. Muszynski, Melissa Farrow. “High-throughput, multi-omics approach to determine and validate de novo global mechanisms of action for drugs and toxins.” United States US10607721B2, filed September 22, 2016, and issued March 31, 2020. https://patents.google.com/patent/US10607721B2/en.

PRESENTATIONS AND INVITED LECTURES

“Simple Flow: A method for cell exposure to drugs or toxins with precise metabolic cessation on the millisecond timescale.” Vanderbilt Sesquicentennial Scholarship Exhibition, February 16, 2024
“DARPA Rapid Threat Assessment to assess and mitigate potential current and emerging threats by determining biological mechanism of action of incapacitating warfare agents.” NATO, 50th meeting of the COMEDS BIOMEDICAL Expert Panel Warsaw, Poland, October 24, 2022 Muszynski – Invited Lecture
“Knowledge Graphs for COVID-19 Long Hauler and Other Post-Infection Syndromes: Contemporary Challenges in Systems Biology and Regulatory Plasticity.” - Guest Lecture, Institute for Systems Biology, May 18, 2021. John Wikswo and Nicole Muszynski.
“COVID-19 Long Hauler and Other Post-Infection Syndromes as Problems in Systems Biology and Regulatory Plasticity.” - Guest Lecture - MIT Lincoln Laboratory - May 10, 2021 - John Wikswo and Nicole Muszynski
“COVID-19 Long Hauler and Other Post-Infection Syndromes as Problems in Systems Biology and Regulatory Plasticity.” - Guest Lecture - Bioscience Division - Los Alamos National Laboratory - May 4, 2021 - John Wikswo and Nicole Muszynski
“COVID-19 Long Hauler and Other Post-Infection Syndromes as Problems in Systems Biology and Regulatory Plasticity.” - DTRA DOMANE Long Hauler Syndrome / Long COVID Workshop - April 13, 2021 - John Wikswo and Nicole Muszynski
“Noninvasive measurement of small bowel slow wave activity in neonates – a pilot study.” - Somarajan, Muszynski, Caillet, Russell, Bradshaw, Acra, Weitkamp - Poster Presentation - American Gastroenterological Association - 2020
“Bridging the Gap Between Organs-on-Chips and Multi-Omic Analysis for In Vitro Investigation of Incapacitating Agents and Medical Countermeasures.” - Wikswo (presenting), Norris, Farrow, Gutierrez, Muszynski, Sherrod, Lacy, McLean, Skaar, Caprioli - Chemical and Biological Defense Science & Technology (CBD S&T) Conference Speaker - Cincinnati, OH - November 18-21, 2019
“Distinguishing spatiotemporal functional abnormalities in pediatric chronic nausea using high density electrogastrography.” - Muszynski et al. – Conference Speaker - Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Conference - Philadelphia, PA - October 2019
“Bridging the gap between multi-omic network analysis and Organ-in-a-Puck to elucidate the comprehensive mechanisms of host-pathogen interactions.” - Muszynski et al. – Poster Presentation - Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Conference - Philadelphia, PA - October 2019
“Multichannel electrogastrography distinguishes gastric slow wave spatiotemporal parameter differences in pediatric chronic nausea.” - Muszynski, Somarajan, Russell, Acra, Bradshaw – Poster Presentation - American Neurogastroenterology and Motility Annual Conference - Chicago, IL - August 2019
“The convergence of multi-omic network analysis and Gut-on-a-Chip to elucidate the comprehensive mechanisms of incapacitating agents.” - Muszynski, Farrow, et al. – Invited Speaker - Epimilitaris: International Bioterrorism Conference - Ryn, Poland - April 2019
“The convergence of multi-omic network analysis and Gut-on-a-Chip to elucidate the comprehensive mechanisms of incapacitating agents.” - Muszynski, Farrow, et al. – Invited Speaker - Military Institute of Technology - Warsaw, Poland - April 2019
“Openable Organ-in-a-Puck and Multi-Omics for In Vitro Investigation of Host-Pathogen Interactions in the Gut and Brain.” - Wikswo, Muszynski, Farrow, Gutierrez, Sherrod – Invited Speakers - DTRA Tech Watch Seminar - Fort Belvoir, Springfield, VA, USA - July 2018
“Rapid Threat Assessment: to detect, identify, and characterize the effects of chemical and biological warfare agents.” - Muszynski, Farrow – Poster Presentation - American Society for Microbiology Biothreats Conference - Washington DC, USA - February 2017
“Rapid Threat Assessment: Bridging the gap between multi-omic network analysis and biological mechanism of action of drugs and toxins.” - Muszynski et al. – Invited Speaker - Gordon Research Conference: Drug Safety - Easton, MA - June 2016
“Rapid Threat Assessment: Bridging the gap between multi-omic network analysis and biological mechanism of action of drugs and toxins.” - Muszynski et al. – Poster Presentation - Gordon Research Seminar: Drug Safety - Easton, MA - June 2016
“Data-driven construction of global drug mechanisms enabled by an integrated high-throughput multi-omics platform.” - Norris (presenting), Farrow, Gutierrez, Muszynski, et al. – Invited Speaker - 64th American Society of Mass Spectrometry - San Antonio, Texas - June 2016
“High-density electrogastrogram identifies spatial dysrhythmias in adolescent patients with chronic idiopathic nausea: a preliminary study.” - Muszynski - Invited Speaker - International Gastrointestinal Electrophysiology Society - San Diego, CA - May 2016
“High-density electrogastrogram identifies spatial dysrhythmias in adolescent patients with chronic idiopathic nausea: a preliminary study.” - Somarajan, Muszynski, et al. – Poster Presentation, Award - Digestive Disease Week - San Diego, CA - May 2016
“Spatiotemporal and Morphological Differences in Serosal and Mucosal Electrical Recording of Porcine Colonic Slow Wave.” - Muszynski et al. - Digestive Disease Week - San Diego, CA, May 2016 - Poster Presentation
“Rapid Threat Assessment: Bridging the gap between multi-omic network analysis and biological mechanism of action of drugs and toxins.” - NATO ASI: Molecular Technologies for Detection of Chemical and Biological Agents - Campora san Giovanni, Calabria, Italy - April 2016 - Poster, Invited Talk
“A Lesson on Biomagnetism.” - New York Institute of Technology - Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering - Long Island, New York - September 2015 - Invited Talk
Professional Skill Development Workshop for Cancer Biologists - Cold Spring Harbor National Laboratory - Long Island, New York - September 2015 - Meeting
“Experimental recording and analysis of mucosal and serosal slow wave activity in porcine colon.” - International Gastrointestinal Electrophysiology Society - Washington DC - May 2015 - Invited Talk, Award
“Noninvasive biomagnetic assessment of the effects of erythromycin on the gastric slow wave.” - Muszynski et a. - Digestive Disease Week - American Gastroenterological Association - Washington DC - May 2015 - Poster
“MENG reveals slow wave dysrhythmia in diabetic gastroparesis.” - Muszynski et al. - Digestive Disease Week, American Gastroenterological Association, Washington DC, May 2015 - Poster
“Rapid threat assessment year one.” - Vanderbilt Team Presentation - Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - Department of Defense - Washington DC - February 2015
“Cholecystokinin alters serosal EMG but not MGG in porcine subjects.” - Muszynski et al. - International Gastrointestinal Electrophysiology Society - Chicago, IL - May 2014 - Invited Talk
“Noninvasive measurement of gastric slow wave dysrhythmia in porcine.” - Muszynski et al. - Digestive Disease Week - American Gastroenterological Association - Chicago, IL - May 2014 - Poster
“Cholecystokinin alters serosal EMG but not MGG in porcine subjects.” - Muszynski et al. - Digestive Disease Week - American Gastroenterological Association - Chicago, IL - May 2014 - Poster
Professional Skill Development Workshop for Women Physicists - APS - 2013 - Meeting
“Noninvasive biomagnetic detection of isolated ischemic bowel segments.” - Surgery and Engineering Symposium, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, December 2012 - Poster
“Correlation of noninvasive magnetic and electric measurement of the gastric slow wave.” - Student Scholar Symposium - Lipscomb University - Nashville, TN - 2012 - Invited Talk

PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS

Chad E. Drake, Leo K. Cheng, Nicole D. Muszynski, Suseela Somarajan, Niranchan Paskaranandavadivel, Timothy Angeli-Gordon, Peng Du, Leonard A. Bradshaw, Recep Avci. Electroanatomical mapping of the stomach with simultaneous biomagnetic measurements. Computers in Biology and Medicine.
Somarajan, S.; Muszynski, N. D.; Olson, J. D.; Russell, A. C.; Walker, L. S.; Acra, S. A.; Bradshaw, L. A. Multichannel Magnetogastrogram: A Clinical Marker for Pediatric Chronic Nausea. American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology. 2022, 323 (6), G562–G570.
Pino J, Harris A, Lubbock A, Gutierrez D, Farrow M, Muszynski N, et al. “Extracting biological knowledge from multi-omics data sets by combining network and enrichment analyses with multiple signaling databases.”
J. D. Olson, S. Somarajan, N. D. Muszynski, A. C. Russell, L. S. Walker, S. A. Acra, and L. A. Bradshaw. “Automated machine learning pipeline approach for classification of pediatric chronic nausea using high resolution electrogastrogram.” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.
Pino, James C., Alexander L. R. Lubbock, Leonard A. Harris, Danielle B. Gutierrez, Melissa A. Farrow, Nicole Muszynski, Tina Tsui, et al. “A Computational Framework to Explore Cellular Response Mechanisms from Multi-Omics Datasets.” BioRxiv, March, 2020.03.02.974121.
S. Somarajan, N. D. Muszynski, J. D. Olson, A. Comstock, A. C. Russell, L. S. Walker, S. A. Acra, and L. A. Bradshaw. “The effect of chronic nausea on gastric slow wave spatiotemporal dynamics in children.” Neurogastroenterology and Motility, Nov 20, 2020.
S. Somarajan, N. D. Muszynski, J. D. Olson, A. Comstock, A. C. Russell, L. S. Walker, S. A. Acra, and L. A. Bradshaw. “Response to “retrograde slow wave activation: A missing link in gastric dysfunction?”, Neurogastroenterology and Motility, vol. 33, no. 4, Apr, 2021
S. Somarajan, N. D. Muszynski, D. Hawrami, J. D. Olson, L. K. Cheng, and L. A. Bradshaw. “Noninvasive Magnetogastrography Detects Erythromycin-Induced Effects on the Gastric Slow Wave.” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 66, no. 2, pp. 327-334, Feb, 2019.
S. Somarajan, N. D. Muszynski, J. D. Olson, L. A. Bradshaw, and W. O. Richards. “Magnetoenterography for the Detection of Partial Mesenteric Ischemia.” Journal of Surgical Research, vol. 239, pp. 31-37, Jul, 2019.
Norris, Jeremy L., Melissa A. Farrow, Danielle B. Gutierrez, Lauren D. Palmer, Nicole Muszynski, Stacy D. Sherrod, James C. Pino, et al. “Integrated, High-Throughput, Multiomics Platform Enables Data-Driven Construction of Cellular Responses and Reveals Global Drug Mechanisms of Action.” Journal of Proteome Research, 16 (3): 1364–75. 2017.
Somarajan S, Muszynski ND, Cheng LK, Bradshaw LA, Naslund TC, and Richards WO. “Noninvasive biomagnetic detection of intestinal slow wave dysrhythmias in chronic mesenteric ischemia”. Am J Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver, 309: G52-G58, 2015.
Somarajan S, Muszynski ND, Obioha C, Richards WO, and Bradshaw LA. “Biomagnetic and bioelectric detection of gastric slow wave activity in normal human subjects-a correlation study.” Physiological Measurement, 33: 1171-1179, 2012.

ABSTRACT PUBLICATIONS

S. Somarajan, N. D. Muszynski, A. S. Monk, J. D. Olson, A. Russell, S. Acra, L. A. Bradshaw, and H. Weitkamp. “Noninvasive Measurement of Small Bowel Slow Wave Activity in Neonates - a Pilot Study.” Gastroenterology, vol. 158, no. 6, pp. S364-S364, May, 2020.
S. Somarajan, N. D. Muszynski, J. D. Olson, A. C. Russell, S. A. Acra, and L. A. Bradshaw. “Multichannel electrogastrography distinguishes gastric slow wave spatiotemporal parameter differences in pediatric chronic nausea.” Neurogastroenterology and Motility, vol. 31, Aug, 2019.
Somarajan S, Muszynski ND, Russell A, Gorman BL, Acra S, Cheng LK, and Bradshaw LA. “High-Density Electrogastrogram Identifies Spatial Dysrhythmias in Adolescent Patients With Chronic Idiopathic Nausea: A Preliminary Study. Gastroenterology 150: S356, 2016.
Muszynski ND, Paskaranandavadivel N, Togrye CT, Somarajan S, Williams P, Bradshaw LA, and Cheng LK. “Spatiotemporal and Morphological Differences in Serosal and Mucosal Electrical Recording of Porcine Colonic Slow Wave.” Gastroenterology 150: S350-S351, 2016.
Somarajan S, Muszynski ND, Richards WO, Cheng LK, and Bradshaw LA. “Noninvasive Biomagnetic Assessment of the Effects of Erythromycin on the Gastric Slow Wave.” Gastroenterology 148: S511-S511, 2015.
Muszynski ND, Somarajan S, Richards WO, and Bradshaw LA. “Noninvasive Measurement of Gastric Slow Wave Dysrhythmia in Porcine.” Gastroenterology 146: S616-S616, 2014.
Muszynski ND, Somarajan S, Richards WO, and Bradshaw LA. “Cholecystokinin Alters Serosal EMG but Not MGG in Porcine Subjects.” Gastroenterology 146: S616-S616, 2014.