Connor Glass

Connor Glass is an American physician, entrepreneur, and researcher specializing in neurotechnology and prosthetics. He is the founder and CEO of Phantom Neuro, a company focused on developing advanced control systems for robotic prosthetics and exoskeletons.

Early life
Connor Glass was born in San Antonio, Texas, and moved to Oklahoma when he was three years old. His interest in surgery began at a young age, and he started shadowing doctors at thirteen. He pursued a Bachelor of Science in biology with a minor in Chemistry at Texas Christian University from 2011 to 2015, where he was also part of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. During his undergraduate studies, he earned an EMT-Basic degree with a specialization in Emergency Medical Technology from Tarrant County College in 2012. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine (2016–2021) and completed a research fellowship in Plastic Surgery and Neuroengineering at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Phantom Neuro
During his fellowship at Johns Hopkins, Glass explored the intersection between robotics and prosthetics, leading to the launch of Phantom Neuro in 2020. The company's product, patented through Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures, is a minimally-invasive implantable sensor that uses muscle signals to enable lifelike control of robotic prosthetics and exoskeletons. Phantom Neuro's purpose is to merge orthopedic injuries and robotics. The product was created to induce life-like of prosthetics and exoskeletons. It is a minimally-invasive implantable sensor that utilizes Internet of Things Wi-Fi technology to ensure optimal connections and control. In 2022, Phantom Neuro received $3.2 million in funding for preclinical studies, totaling $9.5 million later that year. In 2023, the company announced successful trials in pigs and plans to move on to human trials.

Research and publications

 * Levitt, Michael M.; Glass, Connor; Haston, Cheryl; Anzalone, Anthony Joseph; Turner, Stephanie M.; Flynn, Michael G.; Phillips, Melody D. (2016) "The Influence of Physical Activity on Monocyte Phenotype on Circulating Platelet-Monocyte Complexes in Overweight/Obese Persons," International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings, Vol. 2, Iss. 8, Article 39.
 * Tuffaha, Sami H.; Glass, Connor; Rosson, Gedge; Shores, Jaimie; Belzberg, Allan; Wong, Alison. "Vascularized, Denervated Muscle Targets: A Novel Approach to Treat and Prevent Symptomatic Neuromas." Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery - Global Open 8(4): e2779, April 2020.
 * Harris, Thomas G.W.; Qiu, Chenhu; Sarhane, Karim; von Guionneau, Nicholas; Glass, Connor; Segna, Kara; Wong, Alison; Hanwright, Philip; Malapati, Harsha; Hricz, Nicholas; Generoso, Matthew; Hōke, Ahmet; Mao, Hai-Quan; Tuffaha, Sami. "IGF-1 Hydrogel-based Nanofiber Drug Delivery System to Improve Nerve Regeneration and Functional Recovery After Peripheral Nerve Repair." Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery - Global Open 9(7S): 13–14, July 2021.
 * von Guionneau, Nicholas; Liu, Xiuyun; Slavin, Benjamin; Finkelstein, Emily; Yoon, Joshua; Lee, Erica; Kothari, Ruchita; Glass, Connor; Khoo, Kimberly; Kohler, Raymond; Hoke, Ahmet; Shores, Jamie; Brandacher, Gerald; Tuffaha, Sami. "Pre-implanted Nerve Grafts (PING) to Improve Functional Outcomes in VCA." Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery - Global Open 9(7S): 33–34, July 2021.
 * Wong, Alison L.; Harris, Thomas; Glass, Connor; von Guionneau, Nicholas; Lee, Erica; Hricz, Nicholas; Malapati, Harsha; Mi, Ruifa; Swarup, Vivek; Kawaguchi, Riki; Hoke, Ahmet; Tuffaha, Sami. "Determining the Critical Time of Chronic Schwann Cell Denervation on Functional Recovery and RNA Expression." Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery - Global Open 9(7S): 21, July 2021.
 * Glass, C.; Tuffaha, S. "Invasive Neural Integration and Clinical Translation." In: Thakor, N.V. (ed.) Handbook of Neuroengineering. Springer, Singapore, 2022.
 * Hui Ling Khoo, Kimberly; Suresh, Visakha; Lee, Erica; Harris, Tom; Glass, Connor; Tuffaha, Sami. "Vascularized Denervated Muscle Targets: A Comparison with Regenerative Peripheral Nerve Interfaces to Determine Association Between Muscle Graft Size and Pain." Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery - Global Open 10(10S): 16–17, October 2022.
 * Quinn, K. N. et al. "Rodent Forelimb Model of Direct Neurotization for Improved Studies of Muscle Reinnervation and Prosthesis Control." 2023 11th International IEEE/EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering (NER), Baltimore, MD, USA, 2023.

Awards

 * 2021 Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research Team Science Award.