PDAT Lab @ Marquette and the Medical College of Wisconsin

PDAT Lab focuses on the development of novel therapeutics, particularly electrical stimulation therapies, for treating pelvic floor diseases, with a primary focus on urinary incontinence. To improve therapy design and therapy selection, PDAT is also working on creating new diagnostics tools and improving those that already exist.

Researchers and students of PDAT Lab standing on staircase

Research at PDAT LAB

Pelvic diagnostics and therapeutics research at PDAT Lab is conducted at both the pre-clinical and clinical levels and involves the use of animal models, physiological testing, signal processing, and machine learning.

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Investigators at PDAT Lab

Principal Investigator

Dr. Jim Hokanson, director of the Pelvic Diagnostics & Therapeutics Laboratory, received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh in 2013, where he focused on developing an animal model to study artificial somatosensory feedback. In 2019, Dr. Hokanson completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University with a focus on using electrical stimulation therapies to treat lower urinary tract dysfunction. In 2021, Dr. Hokanson joined the Marquette-MCW Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering as an assistant professor and founded PDAT Lab shortly thereafter.

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Collaborative Investigators

Dr. Hokanson and the team at the PDAT Lab work closely with internal and external collaborators specializing in neurology, genito-urinary research, lower urinary tract dysfunction, urodynamic data analysis, and statistics. This includes investigators from the Translational Interdisciplinary Research Team from the Medical College of Wisconsin, as well as the the Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunction Research Network, also known as LURN.

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Lab members in PDAT Lab's Small animal procedure room

Facilities

PDAT Lab is located in the Translational and Biomedical Research Center on the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Milwaukee campus. Lab-specific facilities are complemented by a range of shared resources, including state-of-the-art imaging capabilities and dedicated small-animal procedure room, as well as easy access to investigative and clinical collaborators within the Medical College of Wisconsin and Froedtert Hospital.

Get Involved with PDAT Lab

In collaboration with the Marquette University and Medical College of Wisconsin Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, as well as the Department of Neuroscience at the Medical College of Wisconsin, PDAT Lab is dedicated to creating opportunities for scientists and biomedical engineers interested in neural engineering and lower urinary tract dysfunction. To this end, PDAT Lab offers research, educational and employment opportunities for researchers, graduate students and undergraduate students interested in working to advance therapeutics for pelvic floor disease.

Educational Opportunities

Students interested in pursuing advanced degrees in neural engineering for pelvic dysfunction and diagnostic therapeutics are invited to explore educational opportunities provided by the Marquette University and Medical College of Wisconsin Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, as well as the Neuroscience Doctoral Program at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Marquette-MCW Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program

MCW Neuroscience Doctoral Program

Research Opportunities

The Pelvic Diagnostics & Therapeutics Laboratory is proud to sponsor graduate, undergraduate, and high-school students in research programs designed to expose the next generation of physicians, scientists and engineers to the world-class research practices employed by Marquette University and the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Medical School Summer Research Program

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF)

SUPREMES Program

General Inquiries

The team at the Pelvic Diagnostics & Therapeutics Laboratory is always looking for individuals with an interest in working to develop science and technologies that advance our understanding and treatment of pelvic floor dysfunction and disease. For more information on joining PDAT Lab, contact Dr. Jim Hokanson.

Contact Dr. Jim Hokanson

About the Pelvic Diagnostics & Therapeutics Laboratory