Cindy Chestek Named a 2025 MBioFAR Recipient
Launched in 2018, MBioFAR was created to support “superstar” mid-career researchers at a pivotal point in their careers.
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Cindy Chestek, Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Robotics, and Neurosurgery, has been named one of the 2025 recipients of the Michigan Biosciences Faculty Award Recognition (MBioFAR). This award from U-M’s Presidential Biosciences Initiative honors three outstanding mid-career faculty members for their research achievements, academic excellence, and potential to drive scientific breakthroughs.
Launched in 2018, MBioFAR was created to support “superstar” mid-career researchers at a pivotal point in their careers. By offering flexible, robust resources, the program enables bold, high-risk, high-reward research that might otherwise go unexplored and has been a cornerstone investment in the current faculty.
Each cycle, the awardees are selected through a rigorous review process led by a faculty director and a subcommittee of leading faculty from across U-M’s biosciences community. This year’s faculty director was Liz Speliotes, Keith S. Henley M.D. Collegiate Professor of Gastroenterology, professor of internal medicine, and of computational medicine and bioinformatics, Medical School.
“This award will give my lab the freedom to explore even more innovative ways to treat paralysis,” Dr. Chestek said.
Dr. Chestek leads a lab focused on neural control systems for complex movement. Since 2012, her research has centered on implantable neural interfaces for motor prosthetics, aiming to control full hand motion with thousands of channels. Her team works with animal models, human subjects with upper limb amputations, and develops open-source implantable devices. Committed to advancing long-lasting neural prosthetics, she has mentored more than 20 Ph.D. students, postdocs and neurosurgical residents.