Recap – Ninth annual iBEST symposium highlights healthcare innovation
Michelle Khine, a biomedical engineering professor from the University of California, Irvine and entrepreneur, delivers her afternoon keynote address Play Science! during the 2019 iBEST symposium.
The recent ninth annual Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Science and Technology (iBEST) symposium (external link) highlighted the ongoing successful collaboration between Ryerson University and St. Michael’s Hospital, which has a mandate of bringing together scientists, clinicians, students and others to make an impact on healthcare. This event is open to participants from the wider biomedical community.
The one-day event, attended by more than 250 people, featured insights from iBEST investigators’ work in areas such as the applications of machine learning techniques in healthcare and the potential for innovations in cancer treatments using microbubbles and ultrasound. The audience had the chance to hear about iBEST researchers’ work developing new imaging techniques to assess maternal and fetal health as well as research efforts to seek safer pain therapies in light of the opioid crisis.
The day’s program also included keynote speakers, a student design competition and an opportunity to peruse the exhibits at the iBEST Expo.
“The beauty of iBEST is this amazing connection and collaboration that we have,” said professor David Cramb, dean of Ryerson’s Faculty of Science during his opening remarks. “In many ways, it’s like a sports team. iBEST brings in a bunch of creativity from different aspects, with one common goal, and that common goal can be to discover new therapies for disease or how to diagnose disease, how to help patients traverse those moments in their lives.” Professor Cramb added that many great discoveries come from interdisciplinary teams like the collaborations that occur at iBEST.
Dr. Ori Rotstein, iBEST co-director and vice-president, research and innovation at Unity Health Toronto (which consists of St. Michael’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Health Centre and Providence Healthcare) offered a brief overview of the history of the collaboration, noting the expansion and growing number of projects and membership. iBEST membership has increased by 30 per cent since the institute’s launch, and this year will see a rise in co-authored articles published by iBEST members, with 90 anticipated by the end of 2019.
Keynote speaker Marzyeh Ghassemi (external link) , a University of Toronto computer science and medicine professor, faculty member of the Vector Institute, and Canada CIFAR Artificial Intelligence Chair, presented a talk about machine learning and health (external link) . She highlighted some of the challenges that come with developing models for healthcare, considering factors such as the difficulties of working with medical data or even gender and ethnic representation.
St. Michael’s Hospital’s Muhammad Mamdani, director of the Li Ka Shing Centre for Healthcare Analytics Research and Training and an iBEST investigator, presents his research on using analytics in hospitals during the 2019 iBEST symposium.
In her keynote address, Play Science! (external link) , Michelle Khine (external link) , a biomedical engineering professor from the University of California, Irvine, the director of BioENGINE and a fellow at the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors, said, “Failure is inevitable, so I think we have to have that mindset in science.” She went on to say that science should be taught in the same way sports is approached – you accept failure and try again.
Four iBEST investigators presented their work, with each talk relating to one of the four iBEST research themes (external link) , along with feedback from each of the four theme leads.
The presenters were:
- Ryerson’s Raffi Karshafian, Ultrasound and Microbubble Potentiated Applications, on the Biomedical Delivery Systems (BDS) theme.
- Ryerson’s Dafna Sussman, Fetal MRI: New Tools and Applications, on the Biomedical Imaging and Therapy (BIT) theme.
- St. Michael’s Gaspard Montandon (external link) , Brainstorming Solutions for the Opioid Crisis, on the Biomaterials, Tissue Injury and Repair (BTR) theme.
- St. Michael’s Muhammad Mamdani (external link) , Advancing Advanced Analytics in the Hospital: Trials and Tribulations, on the Healthcare Analytics and Applications (HAA) theme.
This year’s student design competition (external link) saw 15 teams from across the country tackle health topics, from skin cancer detection to rehabilitative muscle training systems to monitoring stress using sensors in shoes. This year the five shortlisted teams pitched their designs to a panel of entrepreneurial and scientific experts as part of the symposium program.
The winners were:
- First place: (PDF file) Virtual Reality Trunk Muscle Training System (external link) by Gordon Gray, Stephen DiGirolamo and Bharath Krishnan. The winning team designed a system to help improve trunk stability using a wearable belt that measured movement and muscle activity, a virtual reality training game that also displayed biofeedback, and the use of a seated aerotrim device.
- Second place: (PDF file) Wellness: Stress Monitoring in Footwear (external link) by Stefan Denkovski, Kima Joulji and Alexandra Marzo.
- Third place: (PDF file) Automation of a Sensor Driven Continuous Flow Bioreactor for Cartilage Tissue Engineering (external link) by Andrew Goudswaard, Kelvin Jok and Joshlene Nimalraaj.
Visit the iBEST website (external link) for more information on the iBEST symposium (external link) and other upcoming iBEST events and news. (external link)
