ORCID ID: 0009-0001-8268-8851
Curriculum: Clinical Neuroscience
Tutor: Prof. Cesare Maria Cornaggia
Supervisor: Dr. Cristiano Alessandro
Workplace: Istituti Clinici Zucchi (Carate Brianza)
Abroad period: Enschede, Netherlands (Prof. Massimo Sartori University of Twente) approximately from September 2025 to February 2026
Kevin Soter is a PhD Candidate in Neuroscience at the School of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Milano-Bicocca. Under the supervision of Dr. Cristiano Alessandro he is currently investigating the neurophysiology and neuromechanics underlying sensory loss after an anterior cruciate ligament injury (ACL) with the focus on restoring lost reflex function. Kevin finished his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degree in sport science at the Ruhr University-Bochum in Germany. His master thesis, investigating the neural circuitry involved in drop landings was executed in Besançon, France as a cooperative investigation between the Université de Franche-Comté and the Ruhr University-Bochum.
Kevin’s technical expertise includes probing neural pathways involved in motor control, recording and analysing force, EMG and ultrasound data as well as utilizing 3D-motion-capture using high-speed video analyses or IMUs for neuromechanical research.
Furthermore, he is eager to be actively engaged in and contribute to human movement research in human motor control and adaptability of dynamic movements during critical situations.
PhD research project
Restoring Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reflex Function by means of Non-Invasive Stimulation of Muscle Receptors
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) functions as mechanical constraint against anterior tibial shear forces. ACL ruptures mainly occur during movements featuring abrupt changes of ground reaction forces and add up to roughly 250,000 incidents in the USA annually. Consequences of ACL injury often include a multitude of abnormal patterns during locomotion and sportive tasks. These patterns may include decreased quadriceps activity, decreased hamstring activity, relative increase in hamstring co-activation and significant changes in movement kinematics and kinetics during walking, running, stair climbing and vertical jumping. The most common method for restoring the mechanical constraint is ACL reconstruction (ACLR). However, this only addresses the mechanical function of the ligaments and does not consider the impairment of their sensory importance. An intact ACL provides proprioceptive signals and reflex behavior for the muscles surrounding the knee joint. Previous work demonstrated that the ACL-reflex projects to the periphery in the form of gamma motoneuron excitement while also projecting to supraspinal centres. Therefore, the reflex is involved in proprioception, fast reflex actions, and feedforward modulation of knee joint muscle control. Reconstructing the mechanical restraint without addressing the underlying neural compensations does not fully restore functioning. This is supported by the fact that the risk of ACL re-injury is 30-40 times higher than its initial occurrence. Even after ACLR and rehabilitation muscle activation abnormalities are observable. These abnormalities are similar but less pronounced than the ones found in ACL deficient subjects. The objective of this research project is to re-establish healthy muscle activity and movement biomechanics in patients with anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstructions. We aim at developing and testing a method to restore ACL sensory function by stimulating intact muscle sensory receptors in the hamstring non-invasively. This aim will be achieved by three main objectives: (1) To develop an experimental device to stimulate primary muscle spindle endings by means of non-invasive vibratory stimulation. (2) To characterize the neuromechanical effects of applying vibratory stimulations to the hamstring muscles. (3) To evaluate hamstring muscle vibrations on subjects who underwent ACLR.
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