EDUCATION – I studied Aerospace Engineering at the University of Padua (Italy) and took my Master’s Degree in 2009. From 2006 to 2013 I worked as a freelance Motorsport Race Engineer, with a specialisation in Race Car’s Vehicle Dynamics and Suspension System design. In May 2018 I completed a PhD in Sport Science, graduating with highest honours, at the department of Training and Movement Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany), where since January 2017 I am also a lecturer. In 2018 I won a postdoctoral research fellowship from the German Research Foundation (DFG) and from March 2019 until July 2020 I was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Medical Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada). Since August 2020 I am an Academic Guest at the Laboratory for Movement Biomechanics, ETH Zurich (Switzerland) for a joint project with the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. My research focuses on motor control of locomotion, with a specific interest on running. The most important topics I deal with are motor coordination, proprioception, foot strike patterns, barefoot running and running economy. Here you can find a list of the publications I authored, with the link to download them, when available (opens in new tab).

Peer-reviewed publications

2020

Santuz, A., Ekizos, A., Kunimasa, Y., Kijima, K., Ishikawa, M. & Arampatzis, A. Lower complexity of motor primitives ensures robust control of high-speed human locomotion. Heliyon 6, e05377 (2020).

Mileti, I., Serra, A., Wolf, N., Munoz-Martel, V., Ekizos, A., Palermo, E., Arampatzis, A. & Santuz, A. Muscle activation patterns are more constrained and regular in treadmill than in overground human locomotion. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. (2020).

Santuz, A. & Akay, T. Fractal analysis of muscle activity patterns during locomotion: pitfalls and how to avoid them. J. Neurophysiol. jn.00360.2020 (2020).

Santuz, A., Brüll, L., Ekizos, A., Schroll, A., Eckardt, N., Kibele, A., Schwenk, M. & Arampatzis, A. Neuromotor Dynamics of Human Locomotion in Challenging Settings. iScience 23, 100796 (2020).

Janshen, L., Santuz, A., Ekizos, A. & Arampatzis, A. Fuzziness of muscle synergies in patients with multiple sclerosis indicates increased robustness of motor control during walking. Sci. Rep. 10, 7249 (2020).

2019

Santuz, A., Akay, T., Mayer, W.P., Wells, T.L., Schroll, A. & Arampatzis, A. Modular organization of murine locomotor pattern in the presence and absence of sensory feedback from muscle spindles. J. Physiol. 597, 3147–3165 (2019).

Munoz-Martel, V., Santuz, A., Ekizos, A. & Arampatzis, A. Neuromuscular organisation and robustness of postural control in the presence of perturbations. Sci. Rep. 9, 12273 (2019).

2018

Santuz, A., Ekizos, A., Janshen, L., Mersmann, F., Bohm, S., Baltzopoulos, V. & Arampatzis, A. Modular Control of Human Movement During Running: An Open Access Data Set. Front. Physiol. 9, 1509 (2018).

Santuz, A., Ekizos, A., Eckardt, N., Kibele, A. & Arampatzis, A. Challenging human locomotion: stability and modular organisation in unsteady conditions. Sci. Rep. 8, 2740 (2018).

Ekizos, A., Santuz, A., Schroll, A. & Arampatzis, A. The Maximum Lyapunov Exponent During Walking and Running: Reliability Assessment of Different Marker-Sets. Front. Physiol. 9, 1101 (2018).

Ekizos, A., Santuz, A. & Arampatzis, A. Short- and long-term effects of altered point of ground reaction force application on human running energetics. J. Exp. Biol. 221, jeb176719 (2018).

2017

Santuz, A., Ekizos, A., Janshen, L., Baltzopoulos, V. & Arampatzis, A. The Influence of Footwear on the Modular Organization of Running. Front. Physiol. 8, 958 (2017).

Santuz, A., Ekizos, A., Janshen, L., Baltzopoulos, V. & Arampatzis, A. On the Methodological Implications of Extracting Muscle Synergies from Human Locomotion. Int. J. Neural Syst. 27, 1750007 (2017).

Ekizos, A., Santuz, A. & Arampatzis, A. Transition from shod to barefoot alters dynamic stability during running. Gait Posture 56, 31–36 (2017).

Janshen, L., Santuz, A., Ekizos, A. & Arampatzis, A. Modular control during incline and level walking in humans. J. Exp. Biol. 220, 807–813 (2017).

2016

Santuz, A., Ekizos, A. & Arampatzis, A. A Pressure Plate-Based Method for the Automatic Assessment of Foot Strike Patterns During Running. Ann. Biomed. Eng. 44, 1646–1655 (2016).