"Brain-Machine Interfaces for Accurate Monitoring and Subsequent Treatment of Central Neural System Functions"

Prof. Mohamad Sawan

Polytechnique Montréal

Montreal, Canada

http://www.polymtl.ca/recherche/rc/en/professeurs/details.php?NoProf=108

Abstract

Currently emerging intracortical biosensing and treatment applications are promising alternative to allow learning about the cortical organization, studying the neural activity underlying cognitive functions and pathologies, locating onset seizures, understanding neurons interactions, detecting mind driven decisions, address complex central neural system dysfunctions by both microelectrostimulation and drug delivery Microsystems, etc. This talk covers circuits and systems techniques used for the design and integration of biosensing and treatment Microsystems. Such devices are interconnected to intracortical neural tissues, and include low-power high-reliability wireless link used to power up such implanted devices and bidirectionally exchange data with external base station. Global view of typical devices altogether with corresponding multidimensional challenges will be described.  Special attention will be paid to automatic detection of neural interaction and to massively parallel recording of action potentials, through large arrays of electrodes and power management of these bioelectronic devices. On the other hand, microstimulation in the primary visual cortex, which are intended to recover vision for the blind through multisite large arrays of electrodes, will be elaborated as case study of the intended treatments. In addition, high-reliability wireless links are key blocks intended to power up such implanted devices will be one of the topics of this talk.

Biographical Sketch

Mohamad Sawan was born in Lebanon, received the Ph.D. degree in 1990 in electrical engineering, from Sherbrooke University, Canada. He joined Polytechnique Montréal in 1991, where he is currently a Professor of Microelectronics and Biomedical Engineering. His scientific interests are the design and test of mixed-signal (analog, digital, RF, MEMS and optic) circuits and Microsystems: design, integration, assembly and validations. These topics are oriented toward the biomedical and telecommunications applications. Dr. Sawan is a holder of a Canada Research Chair in Smart Medical Devices. He is leading the Microsystems Strategic Alliance of Quebec (ReSMiQ) receiving membership support from 11 Universities.

He is founder / co-founder of several International conferences such as NEWCAS, BiOCAS, and ICECS, and he is Editor/ Associate Editor of several International Journals such as the IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems and the Springer Mixed-signal Letters. He is the founder of the Polystim Neurotechnologies Laboratory at Polytechnique Montréal. Dr. Sawan published more than 450 papers in peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings, offered more than 90 invited talks/keynotes, and he was awarded 6 patents pertaining to the field of biomedical sensors and actuators.

Dr. Sawan received several prestigious awards; the most important of them are the Medal of Honor from the President of Lebanon, the Bombardier Award for technology transfer, the Barbara Turnbull Award for medical research in Canada, and the achievement Award from the American University of Science and Technology.  Dr. Sawan is Fellow of the IEEE, Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, and Officer of the Quebec’s National Order.

"Composition imaging using coherent scatter computed tomography for targeted management of kidney stone disease"

Prof. Ian Cunningham

Robarts Research Center

London, ON, Canada

http://www.robarts.ca/ian-cunningham

Abstract

The goal of medical research is to improve health and quality of life.  The goal of medical imaging research is to develop instrumentation, methods and applications that provide images to help diagnose disease and or make treatments for effective and less invasive.  This presentation will describe research in which physics is being used to develop better management of kidney stone disease.  Approximately 10% of Canadians will suffer the often debilitating pain of kidney stones.  In addition, recurrence rates are very high (up to 75%) and hence it is critical to determine the mineral and protein composition to select the most effective prevention strategies.  Unfortunately, many stones are heterogeneous and current analysis methods do not provide the composition at the core of the stone that started formation in the patient.  This is where imaging can help.  We are developing a novel approach called coherent-scatter computed tomography (CSCT)  that combines the benefits of x-ray diffractometry for composition analysis with cross-sectional imaging to produce maps of protein and mineral distributions in the stone.  These maps specifically show the core composition which enables the physician to prescribe the most appropriate treatment.  In a clinical study currently underway, we are finding that the core material is completely missed by current methods in almost 25% of all patients having stones.  The implication is that imaging methods such as CSCT can be used to specifically target the core and reduce recurrence.

Biographical Sketch

Dr. Ian Cunningham is a professor and scientist at the Robarts Research Institute at The University of Western Ontario and physicist at London Health Sciences Centre.  He directs a research team of graduate students and post-doctoral fellows that are investigating new ways of acquiring and displaying medical images using digital radiography and computed tomography for improved health care.

"The never-ending quest to understand biomaterial-cell interactions"
 

Dr. Maud Gorbet

University of Waterloo

Waterloo, ON, Canada

http://www.systems.uwaterloo.ca/people/faculty/gorbet.html

Biocompatibility of materials plays a significant role in the success and failure of current medical devices but also in the development of novel biomaterials. As cells interact with materials, several biological mechanisms may be induced, resulting in cell death and/or activation. This has the potential to lead to significant complications for the patients such as inflammation and fibrosis and ultimately device failure. As one understands how cells interact with and respond to materials, further material modification can be designed to promote the desired cell response to improve biocompatibility. Drawing from her experience with ophthalmic materials, Dr Gorbet will discuss how in vitro models can
contribute to the development of better biomaterials.

Biographical Sketch

Dr. Maud Gorbet is a faculty member within the Systems Design Engineering Department at University of Waterloo. She is also cross appointed to the School of Optometry. Her research and expertise focus on understanding interactions between biological systems and biomaterials. She is well recognized in the blood biocompatibility research area and her review on biomaterial-associated thrombosis was selected as one of the 25 most significant papers in the 25 years of publication of the journal Biomaterials. While relatively new to the field of ophthalmic materials, she has already made important contributions. Her post doctoral research on cell interactions with contact lenses was an invited presentation at the biennial meeting of the International Society for Contact Lens Research (the “think tank” of contact lens research and industry) in 2007. Her approach to biocompatibility problems and knowledge of cell-material interactions has led Dr. Gorbet to design new in vitro models or modify existing ones to better reproduce the in vivo situation and allow for a more complete assessment of the biocompatibility of materials. While working in industry, she played a significant role in characterizing the biocompatibility of a novel polymer to allow its entry into clinical trials, gaining valuable experience as project coordinator of biocompatibility studies in collaborative research projects with university and industry partners. She is also a very active member of the Community Outreach Program at University of Waterloo, through her enthusiastic involvement as local team coordinator for the First Lego League Ontario. This program encourages engineering creativity amongst local students aged 9 through 14 by giving them the opportunity to create teams that tackle an engineering problem and create a Lego robotic structure that is able to complete a set of tasks in a timely fashion.

"Scanning probe microscopy in biomedical research"

Dr. Zoya Leonenko

University of Waterloo

Waterloo, ON, Canada

http://biology.uwaterloo.ca/people/zoya-leonenko

Abstract

Scanning Probe Microscopy is a big and growing family of many nanoscale characterization methods which are widely used in many areas including physics, chemistry, biology, biomedical and nano-technology. One of them, Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a well-known scanning probe microscopy technique which allows imaging and nanomanipulation on a single molecule and nm scale. In this talk I will give introduction to several scanning probe microscopy methods, and focus on Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), and Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (KPFM), which we use in my laboratory to investigate complex structure and function of lipid films and lipid-protein interactions.  Molecular arrangement of lipids and proteins in monolayer or membrane gives rise to complex film morphology as well as an electrical surface potential or non-uniform charge distribution, which rule many biological processes and diseases. I will give a review of current research projects in my laboratory, such as a) study of structure and function of lung surfactant and how these are affected by cholesterol; b) investigation of amyloid fibril formation which is associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

Biographical Sketch

Dr. Leonenko’s holds a joint position of Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Department of Biology at the University of Waterloo. She is also a member of Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology and a collaborative member of Nanosciences Center at the University of Burgundy in Dijon, France. She received her PhD in Chemical Physics, in 1996, from Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia, and did her postdoctoral training in biophysics at University of Calgary, Canada. Dr. Leonenko is leading Biophysics research group at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Her current research interests include scanning probe microscopy and biophysics of lipid membrane and lipid-protein interactions, the role of structural changes and physical properties of lipid template in controlling biological processes and diseases, application of lipid films in biomedical nanotechnology. Current projects include the study of structure and function of lung surfactant; amyloid fibril formation and toxicity in relation to Alzheimer’s disease; interaction of nanoparticles with lipid and cell membrane, and development of applications of lipid films in biomedical nanotechnology. Leonenko’s group uses advanced optical, fluorescence and scanning probe microscopy methods, such as atomic force microscopy (AFM), electrostatic force microscopy (EFM), magnetic force microscopy (MFM) and Kelvin probe force microscopy (FM-KPFM) and works on the development of novel methods and applications of these methods in biophysics and biomedical nanotechnology.

 Dr. Leonenko has more than 60 publications in leading international journals, such as Nanomedicine, Biophysical Journal, Biomedical nanotechnology, Biophysica et Biochimica Acta, Langmuir,  and presented multiple invited talks in Canada and internationally. She is a member of Material Research Society, American Physical Society, American Biophysical Society, and Canadian Association of Physicists.

Dr. Frank Gu

University of Waterloo

Waterloo, ON, Canada

http://nanomedicine.uwaterloo.ca/

Frank Gu received his Ph.D. at Queen’s University in Canada, where he majored in chemical engineering and was awarded with Canada Graduate Scholarship from Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). In 2006, he was award with NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship to join the Laboratory of Institute Professor Robert Langer lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In July 2008, Frank joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo. His current research interests are in the development of biomaterials for nanomedicine and biopharmaceutics applications.  

Blackberry Solution - The Centerpiece of mHealth Reality

Dr. Sasan Adibi

Research In Motion

Waterloo, ON, Canada

The number of wearable wireless sensors is expected to grow to 400 million by the year 2014 while we are expected to pass the 5.2 billion mark for the number of operational mobile subscriber by the year 2011. All of this growth requires an increasing number of mobile-based applications to be deployed in the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications and eHealth/mHealth (Electronic/Mobile Health) space. These emerging mobile applications running on 3G and future 4G mobile networks, will partially be used in telemedicine, establishing, maintaining, and transmitting healthcare information, research, education, and training sectors. With WiMAX rollout and LTE trials taking place around the world, the future is already here.

We aim to take a closer look at these applications, specifically in regards to the healthcare industry, such as blood-pressure, heart-pulse monitor, glucometer, and other related medical applications. We believe that the BlackBerry platform and the pertinent infrastructure (i.e., BES “BlackBerry Enterprise Server”) is a logical and practical solution for eHealth/mHealth/sensor and M2M deployments, which are considered in this talk.

Sasan Adibi (BS'95, MS'99, MS'05, PhD'10) has a PhD degree in Communication and Information Systems and is currently involved in the design and implementation of the next generation wireless and mobile applications in the health-care industry. He has an extensive research background mostly in the areas of Quality of Service (QoS) and Security. He is the first author of +30 journal/conference/book chapter/white paper publications and is a co-editor of two books in the areas of 4th Generation Mobile Networks and QoS. He also has strong industry experiences, having worked in a number of high-tech companies, including: Nortel Networks and Siemens Canada. He is currently a Member of Technical Staff at Research In Motion (RIM), Canada.