News & Stories
Interview with Research Participant Sydney Bollinger
October 30, 2024
Have you ever wanted to meet a fellow research participant or just wondered what it's like to participate in research?
We interviewed Sydney Bollinger who has joined multiple studies in our lab and is helping to make a difference in the stuttering community! In addition to her dedication to research, Sydney also co-leads the Ann Arbor Stuttering Awareness and Research Club (A2STAR) and facilitates a monthly stuttering support group. This year, she attended the National Stuttering Association Annual Conference to connect with people from around the country, listening to the stories of others and sharing her own.
We asked her for her perspective on current research, including what role it can play in the lives of people who stutter. Click here to learn Sydney's thoughts on the topic.
Staff Spotlight: Marrian Tan
October 22, 2024
Get to know our team!
We interviewed Marrian Tan, Research Technician Intermediate in the Speech Neurophysiology Lab, to learn more about her work and interests. Marrian leads our lab's neural stimulation project and assists with EEG studies. She's excited about exploring neural stimulation as a potential treatment for people who stutter. When she's not busy with work, Marrian enjoys baking new cookie and cake recipes and creating Chinese desserts, like mooncakes. She's also an avid photographer and enjoys capturing meaningful moments for her friends and family.
Keep reading to learn more about Marrian and her work with the lab.
New paper in Brain and Language
September 4, 2024
Dr. Emily Garnett and Dr. Soo-Eun Chang co-authored a new paper with national colleagues in stuttering research. Their paper, Evidence for planning and motor subtypes of stuttering based on resting state functional connectivity, was published in Brain and Language identifies for the first time that people who stutter can be organized into two to three groups based on each person's brain connectivity patterns. This could have big implications in the field of stuttering research, helping to find brain bases for variable stuttering symptoms across different individuals. This research could one day inform individualized treatment interventions.
Staff Spotlight: Kassie Smiggs
August 5, 2024
Get to know our team!
We interviewed Kassie Smiggs, Research Technician Intermediate in the Speech Neurophysiology Lab, to learn more about her work and interests. Kassie conducts MRI data collection and data management. She's looking forward to honing her skills in data analysis and learning more about novel neuroscience techniques. When she's not busy with work, Kassie enjoys cooking and exploring local trails with her dog, Zeus.
Keep reading to learn more about Kassie and her work with the lab.
Staff Spotlight: Dr. Shanley Treleaven
March 26, 2024
Get to know our team!
We interviewed Dr. Shanley Treleaven, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Speech Neurophysiology Lab, to learn more about her work and interests. Shanley conducts research for the lab's EEG studies and is also a speech-language pathologist. She loves how our work helps the stuttering community. When she's not busy with work, Shanley enjoys reading fiction and spoiling her rescue dogs.
Keep reading to learn more about Shanley and her work with the lab.
Stuttering and anxiety—what’s the connection?
March 12, 2024
Dr. Yanni Liu’s new paper, Brain response to errors in children who stutter was recently published in the Journal of Fluency Disorders. In this paper, our researchers sought to better understand the connection between stuttering and anxiety. Long-established studies show that about half of all adults who stutter report social anxiety disorders that significantly impact their quality of life. But do children who stutter also experience these higher levels of anxiety? Does their anxiety grow with age? This study is the first one of its kind, investigating signs of anxiety within the brains of preschool-aged and school-aged children who stutter.
We sat down with Dr. Liu to learn more about this research and what it can teach us about the role anxiety plays in developmental stuttering.
Unsolved Mysteries: Stuttering Edition
March 7, 2024
Dr. Soo-Eun Chang penned an article published in PLOS Biology’s latest edition of Unsolved Mystery. Partnering with lead-author Dr. Nicole Neef at the Institute for Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology in Göttingen, Germany, their article, Knowns and unknowns about the neurobiology of stuttering, explores everything stuttering researchers currently know and don’t know about stuttering.
To help break down the complex neurobiology, we wrote a simple summary of both the biggest research findings—and the biggest mysteries—researchers are still trying to solve!
Keep reading to learn more about these stuttering mysteries.
Neuroscience Craft and Story Time at Ann Arbor District Library and Saline District Library
February 22, 2024
Members of our lab and the Ann Arbor Stuttering Awareness and Research Club (A2STAR) visited local libraries this February to lead children through fun and educational neuroscience activities to teach them how different parts of our brains and bodies help us speak.
Staff Spotlight: Dr. Hasini Weerathunge
January 22, 2024
Get to know our team!
We interviewed Dr. Hasini Weerathunge, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Speech Neurophysiology Lab, to learn more about her work and interests. Hasini conducts research for the lab while learning new research techniques to hone her skills. When she's not busy with work, Hasini enjoys hot yoga and hot mugs of butterbeer as she's a life-long fan of the Harry Potter series. She also loves the great outdoors and travel.
Keep reading to learn more about Hasini and her work with the lab.
News & Stories Archive