Team Members

Jayme Coates is the Director of New Product Development at Med-Ally and a seasoned executive and successful entrepreneur with over 15 years’ experience in medical devices and technology. She has contributed to over 100 unique devices. Her background in the military, biomedical engineering, design, proof-of-concept, product development, manufacturing, and program management enables me to create highly effective strategies and action plans for bringing advanced technology products to market.
Jared Wells is an experienced project engineer from Med-Ally with a background in research and development within the biotechnology industry. He’s skilled in mechanical and electrical V&V testing, 3D printing, Solidworks, Matlab, Microsoft Office, R, C++, NI LabVIEW, data classification, resistance welding, laser welding, and biomedical engineering and has achieved a Masters in Science focused in bioelectrical engineering from Clemson University.
Brianna Thielen completed her bachelor’s degree in Engineering at Harvey Mudd College in 2014. Later that year, she began working for Second Sight Medical Products as an R&D Engineer, focused on the development of the Orion cortical prosthesis for artificial vision. In 2018, Brianna began her graduate studies in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California, with research focused on polymer MEMS and implantable medical device development.
Farbod Amirghasemi is a research assistant at USC specializing in biosensors and wearable bioelectronics.


Alberto Esteban-Linares is a postdoctoral scholar with the Biomedical Microsystem Laboratory, University of Southern California. Prior to USC, Alberto received the B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee Technological University in 2017 and the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt University in 2023, under Prof. Deyu Li, with a focus on microfluidic devices with integrated microelectrode technologies for retina electrophysiology studies. His research interests include microfluidics and the development of microtechnology for biomedical sensing, with an emphasis on flexible implantable microdevices for recording and stimulating the central and peripheral neural systems.

Quentin Rezard is a 31-year-old French postdoctoral researcher at the USC Biomedical Microsystems Laboratory. After completing a B.S. in Applied Physics, he specialized in using microtechnology for biological application during his M.S. at Paris Saclay University. He then completed his Ph.D. in 2022 at the University of Lille under Professor Mehmet Çagatay Tarhan, with a research focus on developing a microelectromechanical device to detect circulating cancer cells. His research interest explores the development of microtechnology for biomedical sensing, focusing on MEMS systems, microfluidic and polymers. Following this path, his current work entails the development of an implantable flexible microelectrode to stimulate the peripheral neural system.


Xinghao Huang is a third-year Ph.D. mechanical engineering student working in Professor Hangbo Zhao’s research group at the University of Southern California. He received his B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from University of California, Santa Barbara in 2021. His current research focuses on developing novel sensors for soft robot shape reconstruction and medical devices. He also has a wide-range of interests in precision instruments, solid mechanics, and machine learning. 

Sina Khazaee Nejad is a third-year PhD student in Biomedical Engineering, working in Dr. Maral Mousavi’s research group at the University of Southern California. He earned his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Sharif University of Tehran. His research primarily involves the development of low-cost electrochemical sensors and medical devices.
Ali Soleimani is a second-year PhD student in Biomedical Engineering, working in Dr. Maral Mousavi’s research group at the University of Southern California. He earned his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from K. N. Toosi University of Technology in Iran. His research focuses on development of electrochemical sensors, neural probes and wearable & point of care devices .

Previous Team Members

Xiangling Li, a postdoctoral research associate with Prof. Hangbo Zhao at the Viterbi School of Engineering of the University of Southern California. Prior to joining USC, he earned my Ph.D. from the State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technology (OEMT), Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China, in 2022, under the supervision of Prof. Xi Xie. My research interests lie in using advanced micro/nano manufacturing technologies to fabricate malleable electronics; developing novel precision medical devices that integrate and facilitate the intersection of mechanical engineering, materials science, chemistry, and life sciences; exploring new technologies, and expanding the application of these technologies in biomedical engineering.

The Center for Autonomic nerve Recording and Stimulation Systems (CARSS)
Email: carss@usc.edu