Osvaldo Linares-Gutiérrez believes that research shouldn’t be defined by a student’s major. It should be driven by curiosity.

“You don’t need to do STEM research just because you’re a STEM major or humanities research because you’re a humanities major,” he says. “What matters is finding the question you actually want to chase and the problem you want to solve.”

For Linares-Gutiérrez, a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill, that mindset has led him across disciplines and into research that tackles real-world challenges.

As a first-year student, his interest in synthetic biology led him to UNC iGEM, a student-led research team that competes internationally, using research to solve real-world problems. Linares-Gutiérrez and his teammates worked to develop a probiotic that could help remove PFAS from the gut microbiomes of the people exposed to them. Their project earned a silver medal in 2024 and a gold medal in 2025.

By his sophomore year, Linares-Gutiérrez had become interested in neural engineering, a field that combines engineering, neuroscience, and medicine to better understand and treat disorders of the nervous system. After learning about transcranial magnetic stimulation, a technology that uses magnetic fields to influence brain activity, he wondered: Could a similar approach be used on other organs, like the heart?

Today, the biomedical engineering and neuroscience double-major explores that question in the lab of Wubin Bai. He’s helping develop a wireless, noninvasive, wearable device that stimulates the nerves that regulate heart rate and blood pressure. The long-term goal is to create a technology that could one day offer an alternative to medication for some cardiovascular and anxiety-related conditions.

“This technology has the potential to help patients across a wide range of health care problems, not just one narrow condition,” Linares-Gutiérrez says. “Working across material science, neural engineering, and beyond has given me a broad view of the disciplines this work touches and how much progress happens at their intersections.”

As a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow (SURF), Linares-Gutiérrez spent his summer testing new ideas, analyzing results, and helping move the technology closer to practical applications. He spoke with UNC Research Stories about this research, what he’s learned through SURF, and why curiosity is the best place for students to begin their own research journeys.

What does the day-to-day research for your SURF project look like?

Developing this device means creating a new type of material that can comfortably stick to the skin and deliver nerve stimulation over long periods of time.

In the lab, we test different material formulations and screen them for two properties. First is biocompatibility, meaning the material can remain on skin for extended periods without causing irritation. Second is how effectively it can deliver electrical stimulation through the skin to the target nerve.

Day to day, that means making samples, running tests and comparing results to identify the formulations that perform best in both areas.

Share a challenge that arose during your research project this summer.

One of the biggest challenges this summer was building the initial prototype. We had two nonnegotiable goals for testing and design: the device needed to be small, comfortable, and discreet enough for people to wear, while also delivering enough power to produce the physiological effect we wanted.

Balancing those requirements proved difficult. Our original approach focused on influencing heart rate variability by targeting the heart itself, but that required more power and hardware than a wearable device could reasonably support.

That challenge pushed us toward a different solution. Instead of targeting the heart directly, we found we could influence heart rate variability by stimulating peripheral nerves connected to those functions. Because those nerves require less power to stimulate, we were able to design a smaller, more practical device while still working toward the same goal.

How does your SURF research apply to people and the real world – even if that application doesn’t occur until much further down the road?

My SURF research could one day help patients with cardiac regulation problems, chronic pain, and certain psychological conditions, including anxiety and depression.

In the future, I also think this technology may have potential applications for conditions such as epilepsy and diabetic neuropathy, a type of nerve damage caused by high blood sugar. But much more research is needed before those possibilities can be explored.

How has this research experience changed the way you think about your field or about problem-solving in general?

It has shown me that tunnel vision is real. There will always be challenges within the problem you’re trying to solve, and there is often more than one path forward. Sometimes the best solution comes from stepping back and looking at the problem from a different angle.

What is it like to be part of a research team or lab at Carolina?

It is a unique experience that I think everyone should attempt at least once. You learn an incredible amount, but you also become part of a team working to make a real difference through research. I’m grateful to contribute to that effort.

What would you say to students who feel intimidated or unsure if they belong in research?

Instead of starting with, “Do I belong here?” I would encourage you to start with, “What am I curious about?” Because when curiosity is real, intimidation tends to disappear.

If you could sum up your summer research experience in one word or phrase, what would it be and why?

Eye-opening. I have learned far more than I expected, and the experience has changed the way I think about research and problem-solving.