Welcome to the HMP Lab!


Cortex Reach

The Human Movement Performance Laboratory (HMP) specializes in biomechanical research through the lens of translational and collaborative science.

Our focused synergy seeks to gather experts from academia, industry, and medical professions in modernizing clinical practices with the latest developments in medical research and contemporary technology.

Along with UNTHSC, our mission, our purpose, and our vision, HMP lab strives to improve the medical needs of the North Texas community and beyond.

 

Our Mission

The UNTHSC Human Movement Performance Lab is dedicated to understanding how the human body moves and is affected by development, disease, and injury across the lifespan. Our team includes engineers, physical therapists, psychologists, physicians, and basic scientists working together to understand the cognitive and neuro-musculoskeletal underpinnings of functional movement. We use video motion capture, virtual environments, mobile eye-tracking, custom instrumentation, and computational modeling to analyze abnormal motions due to disease processes and invent and evaluate rehabilitation treatments. With these goals, we aim to improve the quality of life of persons with developmental disorders, disability, injury, or age-related functional changes.

Our Purpose

  • To understand mechanisms underlying the functional differences in human movement
  • To develop interventions to overcome the challenges of health conditions that are developmental, injury, illness, or age-related
  • To offer the possibility of active, independent, and more productive lives through research, education, and clinical care

Our Vision

  • Generate new knowledge and technology, and promote its effective use in the rehabilitation process.

Our History

  • 2008 – HMP Lab opened with a generous gift from the Osteopathic Heritage Foundation
  • 2008 – Rita M. Patterson, Ph.D. was hired as the founding director
    • Her background is in biomedical engineering, orthopedics, and upper extremity function
  • 2009 – Nicoleta Bugnariu, PT, Ph.D. joined as permanent investigator
    • Her expertise is in neuroscience and virtual reality 
  • 2009 – Acquired a virtual reality system (CAREN; MotekForcelink) as a start-up package
    • Significant investment  from the Physical Therapy Department in the School of Health Professions 
  • From that point, the vision of a core, inter-departmental, multidisciplinary, and inter-professional lab with shared governance of multiple principal investigators was implemented 
  • 2012 – Metin Yavuz, D.Eng,  joined the lab
    • A biomedical engineer who brings expertise in custom force plate instrumentation for the evaluation of diabetic foot ulcers
  • 2013 – Haylie Miller, Ph.D.,  joined the lab
    • An experimental psychologist with interests in visual and motor development in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and related pediatric movement disorders
    • Joined the lab as a postdoctoral fellow and transitioned to a faculty and PI position 
  • 2014 – Evan Papa, DPT, Ph.D.,  joined the lab
    • A Physical Therapist investigating how fatigue influences human performance in persons with Parkinson’s disease
  • The HMP lab continues to grow, adding new staff, trainees, and collaborators to enrich the team’s expertise and the scope of work.