Breathtaking, Ryan Rakoczy’s neuroscience research takes on new meaning

It was kind of interesting — how breathing is controlled by tiny carotid body organs that detect oxygen in the blood. For Wright State University graduate student Ryan Rakoczy, it was a curiosity that became the focus of his master’s thesis. But then it suddenly became much, much more.

On March 9, Rakoczy’s son, Lennon, was born extremely prematurely — nearly three months early — and his underdeveloped lungs were gasping for the air needed to keep the 2-pound, 7-ounce infant alive. In fact, Lennon was immediately put on a ventilator and for the next 50 days would live in a hospital intensive