EDUCATION – I studied Aerospace Engineering at the University of Padua (Italy) and graduated 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 my PhD in Sport Science with the highest honours at the Department of Training and Movement Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany), where I have also been 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). From August 2020 to August 2022 I was an Academic Guest at the Laboratory for Movement Biomechanics, ETH Zurich (Switzerland). Since September 2023 I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin, Germany. My research is focused on the neural control of locomotion through sensory feedback in mice and humans. I use special treadmills and mouse genetics to produce external and internal perturbations during locomotion and linear/nonlinear analysis tools to investigate how the central nervous system controls muscles and uses proprioceptive sensory feedback for the production of robust locomotion. Here is a list of my publications, with links to download them where available.

Peer-reviewed publications

2023

Santuz, A. & Zampieri, N. Making sense of proprioception. Trends in Genetics (2023).

Ekizos, A. & Santuz, A. “Biofeedback-based return to sport”: individualization through objective assessments. Front. Physiol. 14, 1185556 (2023).

Rao, L., Horn, N., Meister N., Preiss S., Taylor W.R., Santuz, A., Schütz, P. Comparable in vivo joint kinematics between self-reported stable and unstable knees after TKA can be explained by muscular adaptation strategies: A retrospective observational study. eLife 12, e85136 (2023).

Santuz, A. & Akay, T. Muscle spindles and their role in maintaining robust locomotion. The Journal of Physiology 601, 275–285 (2023).

2022

Santuz, A., Laflamme, O. D. & Akay, T. The brain integrates proprioceptive information to ensure robust locomotion. The Journal of Physiology 600, 5267–5294 (2022).

Santuz, A. musclesyneRgies: factorization of electromyographic data in R with sensible defaults. Journal of Open Source Software 7, 4439 (2022).

Santuz, A., Janshen, L., Brüll, L., Munoz-Martel, V., Taborri, J., Rossi, S. & Arampatzis, A. Sex-specific tuning of modular muscle activation patterns for locomotion in young and older adults. PLoS One 17, e0269417 (2022).

König, M., Santuz, A., Epro, G., Werth, J., Arampatzis, A. & Karamanidis, K. Differences in muscle synergies among recovery responses limit inter-task generalisation of stability performance. Hum. Mov. Sci. 82, 102937 (2022).

Taborri, J., Santuz, A., Brüll, L., Arampatzis, A. & Rossi, S. Measuring Kinematic Response to Perturbed Locomotion in Young Adults. Sensors 22, 672 (2022).

2021

Munoz-Martel, V., Santuz, A., Bohm, S. & Arampatzis, A. Proactive Modulation in the Spatiotemporal Structure of Muscle Synergies Minimizes Reactive Responses in Perturbed Landings. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 9, (2021).

Bohm, S., Mersmann, F., Santuz, A., Schroll, A. & Arampatzis, A. Muscle-specific economy of force generation and efficiency of work production during human running. Elife 10, (2021).

v.d. Zouwen, C. I., Boutin, J., Fougère, M., Flaive, A., Vivancos, M., Santuz, A., Akay, T., Sarret, P., Ryczko, D. Freely Behaving Mice Can Brake and Turn During Optogenetic Stimulation of the Mesencephalic Locomotor Region. Front. Neural Circuits 15, 1–18 (2021).

Mademli, L., Mavridi, D., Bohm, S., Patikas, D. A., Santuz, A., Arampatzis, A. Standing on unstable surface challenges postural control of tracking tasks and modulates neuromuscular adjustments specific to task complexity. Sci. Rep. 11, 6122 (2021).

Bohm, S., Mersmann, F., Santuz, A. & Arampatzis, A. Enthalpy efficiency of the soleus muscle contributes to improvements in running economy. Proc. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci. 288, 20202784 (2021).

Munoz-Martel, V., Santuz, A., Bohm, S. & Arampatzis, A. Neuromechanics of Dynamic Balance Tasks in the Presence of Perturbations. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 14, (2021).

Janshen, L., Santuz, A. & Arampatzis, A. Muscle Synergies in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis Reveal Demand-Specific Alterations in the Modular Organization of Locomotion. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 14, (2021).

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).

Taborri, J., Keogh, J., Kos, A., Santuz, A., Umek, A., Urbanczyk, C., van der Kruk, E., Rossi, S. Sport Biomechanics Applications Using Inertial, Force, and EMG Sensors: A Literature Overview. Appl. Bionics Biomech. 2020, 1–18 (2020).

Mileti, I., Zampogna, A., Santuz, A., Asci, F., Del Prete, Z., Arampatzis, A., Palermo, E., Suppa, A. Muscle Synergies in Parkinson’s Disease. Sensors 20, 3209 (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., Mayer, W., Wells, T.L., Schroll, A., Arampatzis, A. & Akay, T. Modular organization of murine locomotor pattern in the presence and absence of sensory feedback from muscle spindles. J. Physiol. JP277515 (2019).

Bohm, S., Mersmann, F., Santuz, A. & Arampatzis, A. The force–length–velocity potential of the human soleus muscle is related to the energetic cost of running. Proc. R. Soc. B Biol. Sci. 286, 20192560 (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).

Bohm, S., Marzilger, R., Mersmann, F., Santuz, A. & Arampatzis, A. Operating length and velocity of human vastus lateralis muscle during walking and running. Sci. Rep. 8, 5066 (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 energetic. J. Exp. Biol. jeb.176719 (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).