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Invited Speakers

Opening Lecture

Abstract
Many issues we routinely experience with respect to solving health care or public health problems, such as medical errors, occur and are perpetuated because of our silos or stovepipes of information. The scientific community and the EMBS recognize intimately that preparing for the provision of health care, and erecting our public health system of tomorrow, is not just a matter of converging heterogeneous technologies but of people and processes as well. As society prepares to shift the current systems into some where wellness and disease prevention will be the focus, society will face some major challenges. Many changes can affect positively medical and cost effective outcomes as well as the reduction and or elimination of medical errors and patient safety for example and yet privacy and security of personal medical information continue to be a major hurdle. Information Technology acting as a catalyst for change when combined with discovery and advances in research and development of new devices, and new drugs offers a multitude of avenues that were hard to imagine just a few decades ago. The convergence of science and technology open some doors of opportunity that may help diminish the polarization among the developed and underdeveloped nations. Society needs a systems approach and having a holistic view of the problem; to be able to see the whole and not just discrete pieces; and help determine, for example unintended consequences which are absent. Integration of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary orientations and activities when trying to understand the problem and moving toward generating potential solutions are needed; yet present approaches are grossly insufficient in this respect. A new Global Health strategy where the public and private sectors work together will be presented as well as a wide range of opportunities that can start at the cellular, molecular and genetics levels and go as far as population health. A Global Economy that will be pushed to integrate surveillance and epidemiology for better protection against environmental threats and food borne diseases through the use of remote sensing data and a worldwide food enterprise architecture will also be discussed.

Biographical Sketch
Dr. Kun is a Professor of Systems Management at the IRMC of the NDU, where he is the Course Manager for Homeland Security. He graduated from the Merchant Marine Academy in Uruguay; and has a BSEE, MSEE and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering all 3 degrees from UCLA. His extensive background on Information Technology, Medical and Public Health Informatics, includes 14 years with IBM where he developed the first six clinical applications for the IBM PC. He was an invited speaker to the White House and a Distinguished Fellow at the CDC. He is in the IEEE Distinguished Visitor Program for the Computer Science as well as the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. He chairs the IFMBE’s Global Citizen Safety and Security WG. Dr. Kun received many awards and recognition including the 2009 first ever AIMBE Fellow Advocate Award, the “2002 - IEEE-USA Citation of Honor Award”: “For exemplary contributions in the inception and implementation of a health care information technology vision in the United States.” He was inducted as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering: “For outstanding leadership and contributions in the creation, development, and implementation of the health care information infrastructure and related policies," and Fellow at the IEEE for “contributions to the health care information infrastructure”.

Abstract
Paul Dudley White (1866-1973), the father of Cardiology in the United States, devoted his life to dreaming of a world with social justice and solidarity: “For many years I have treasured the idea of the possibility that the physicians of all nations, with only the health and happiness of their patients to consider, might bring together not only their colleagues in a united crusade against disease but their multitudes of patients, to promote international friendship, and thereby world peace”. He coined the world “irenology (from Greek, “the Science of Peace”) claiming that this science was long overdue. Dr. René G. Favaloro (1923-2000), the Argentinean who standardized the coronary bypass surgery at the Cleveland Clinic in the 1906s, continued to carry this torch. During the American Heart Association plenary session in 1998 he delivered the lecture “A Revival of Paul Dudley White: An Overview of Present Medical Practice and of Our Society”, a summary of Dr. White’s legacy and a denunciation of disparities in health and the society as a whole. He always emphasized the importance of prevention and in 1996, during the Opening Session of the Congress on Cardiac Rehabilitation, he brought up the socioeconomic status as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The Inter-American Heart Foundation decided to honor the work of these two physicians with the Science of Peace Lecture, which takes place every other year and is intended to keep the vision of these two great men alive. As Dr. Favaloro used to say “every medical school graduate should have a social commitment”. It is then a duty of every scientist, and especially of us, physicians, to keep alive this flame making every effort to point out and provide solutions to prevent the diseases of our society, among which we can mention: hunger, poverty, social conflicts and war, illiteracy, discrimination, pollution, child and maternal mortality and deficient healthcare systems.

Biographical Sketch
Roberto René Favaloro was born in La Plata, Argentina, in 1954. He graduated as Bachelor of Science with Honours in Biochemistry (Cum Laude) from Syracuse University, United State, in 1980, and as Medical Doctor from the Cornell University Medical College, United States, in 1984. After completing his internship at the San Diego Medical Center School of Medicine he went back to Argentina to continue with the Cardiovascular Surgery Residence at the Favaloro Foundation. He completed a four-month fellowship at the Department of Heart, Lung and Heart-Lung Transplantation at Harefield Hospital, Great Britain, under the guidance of Prof. Magdi Yacoub in 1990. Currently he is Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery of Favaloro University and Chief of Cardiovascular, Thoracic and Intra Thoracic Transplant Surgery Department and Director of the Homograft Tissue Bank at the Universitary Hospital of Favaloro Foundation. In Argentina, Dr Favaloro performed the first heart-lung transplant in 1990, the first successful pulmonary thromboendarterectomy in 1992, the first bilateral lung transplant in 1993 and the first successful implantation of left ventricular assist device (Novacor®) in Latin America (afterwards transplanted in 1998) in 1997. He developed several Programs such as: Combined heart & lung transplant, Lung transplant, Pulmonary thromboendarterectomy and End-stage Heart Failure. Envisaging the importance of good- quality homografts he created one of the first two homograft banks in Argentina. His is one of the most important series of Ross procedure. Dr. Favaloro is member of ten national and international societies. He has published more than four hundred papers in peer reviewed publications.

Abstract
We assume that the technological universe should be designed to fit and serve the human dimension. The role of technology in preserving life, the omnipotent presence of the physician, and the dilemmas facing patients and providers created by availability of life-sustaining technology remain to be discussed. If we analyze the evolution of the medical technology in the last 30 years we can see that its exponential growth and the methodology adopted in its use dangerously resemble a “Technocratic Model”. In this new century, it would be important to ask ourselves whether Medicine has left aside the humanistic model that prevailed in the 1970´s.

Biographical Sketch
Eduardo Humberto Raimondi was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1955. He graduated with honors as Doctor of Medicine from the University of Buenos Aires in 1979 and specialized in Allergy and Immunology in 1983. In 1980 he started his practice at the First Argentine Center of Immunogenetics (PRICAI as per the Spanish acronym), first ad honorem and since 1983 as staff physician. With the opening of the Institute of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery in 1992, the PRICAI moved to the Favaloro Foundation and today it is a referral center both for individuals and for legal public bodies throughout Argentina. Dr. Raimondi is President and General Director of the PRICAI since 1994. He is a founding member and has been past President of the Argentine Society for Forensic Genetics (2000-2002) and of the Argentine Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (1994-1997). He was appointed President of the 23rd World Congress of the International Society for Forensic Genetics, held in Buenos Aires in September 2009. He has been accredited by the American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI) as Histocompatibility Laboratory Director. Since 2001 he is CEO and Deputy Chairman of the Favaloro Foundation and, since 2002, of the Favaloro University, where he is also Head Professor. He received the following awards: Argentine Society of Cardiology (1986); “Clinical Immunology” of the Latin American Association for Immunology (1987); 5th International Scientific Award (1990-1991) of the Uruguayan National Institute of Rheumatology; Argentine National Academy of Medicine Award to the Best Argentine Original or Unpublished Paper on Medical and Scientific Topics (1997); “R. Roberto Vedoya” of the Argentine Journal of Cardiology, Argentine Society of Cardiology (1997); “Adolfo H. Aztiria” of the Argentine Academy of Medicine (2001); “Profesor José María E. Mezzadra” of the Buenos Aires University School of Medicine (2007). He has been co-author of four books on his specialty that have been published in Argentina, and author of the following books: El sistema HLA [The HLA System], El banco genético y el derecho a la identidad « The Gene Bank and the Right to Identity » and Manual para la investigación de la filiación « Handbook of Filiation ». He has presented and/or published 80 scientific papers in Argentina, 81 internationally, and has published 89 original papers in Argentine or international journals. He has presented 120 papers in Argentine and international meetings.

Plenary Keynote Lecture

Abstract
Hypertension represents a chronic mechanical stress applying on arteries, and thus determines numbers of adaptations from the vascular system. Among them, we have to distinguish between the consequences of blood pressure by itself (short term), and the long term consequences, generally caused by adaptation. Large arteries such as the aorta and its major branches are distensible, that is to say they increase in diameter with increases in blood pressure. This phenomenon occurs during cardiac cycle, but also during longer periods of blood pressure changes. Since stiffness of the arteries is due to their content in extracellular matrix and collagen, the progressive increase in diameter is accompanied by the recruitment of higher number of collagen fibers, thus increased stiffness. It explains why acute changes in blood pressure are accompanied by increased stiffness, without any structural change. On a longer term, chronic increase in blood pressures induces changes in the phenotype of vascular smooth muscle, which migrates (toward the intima), synthesize extracellular matrix, and increase in size. At the site of small arteries, site of peripheral resistances, acute increase in blood pressure determines a myogenic response (vasoconstriction), which limits the increase in diameter with blood pressure. Endothelial dysfunction is usually associated with hypertension, but the increase in blood pressure by itself has little effect on the endothelium. The link may be indirect, caused by either co-segregating risk factors, or common pathways involving oxidative stress. On the long term, hypertension has also been associated with increased diffusion of macromolecules in the arterial wall. Non invasive measurement of arterial properties has emerged as the 21st century challenge for predicting cardiovascular risk in patients. The simplest method is to measure arterial stiffness from pulse wave velocity. Beside PWV, it is now possible to measure central pressure. Central pressure differs from brachial pressure because of arterial stiffness and wave reflection. In young, healthy subjects, central pressure is lower than brachial pressure. With aging, high blood pressure and risk factors, because of increased stiffness and vasoconstriction, reflected waves are returning earlier toward the heart and add to the ejecting wave, thus increasing central pressure. This could be measured non invasively by making radial artery applanation tonometry and using a validated transfer function to derive central pressure. Measurement of arterial stiffness AND remodeling can be done by echotracking. Endothelial function can be assessed through flow mediated vasodilatation. Arterial diameter is measured by echography (or echotracking), and changes in response to distal ischemia (of the forearm) is measured. This technique is highly specific of endothelial function (namely NO production), however, this is very challenging from the technical point of view, poorly reproducible, and up to now difficult to perform in clinical practice.

Biographical Sketch
Dr. Pierre Boutouyrie is currently Professor at the Pharmacology Unit, European Hospital Georges Pompidou, Paris, France. He holds a Medical Doctorate (1994) with a specialty in Heart and Vessel diseases, and a Ph.D. degree in Pharmacology (1996). From 1995 to 1999 he was chief of the Pharmacology Unit at Broussais Hospital, in Paris. Professor Boutouyrie is a member of the European Council for Cardiovascular Research (ECCR), of the French Association of Pharmacology and Therapeutics (SFPT), of the French Society of Arterial Hypertension (SF-HTA) and of the GRRC (Groupe de Réflexion en Recherche Cardiovasculaire). His field of interest is large artery hemodynamics, especially the interplay between large artery stiffness and large artery remodeling in hypertension. He studies the arterial phenotype in monogenic diseases of arteries, and the influence of vasoactive drugs on mechanical behavior of large arteries. Dr. Boutouyrie belongs to the editorial board of the Journal of Hypertension, Artery Research, Hypertension and Sang-Thrombose-Vaisseaux

Abstract
Interactions between waves can be turned into profit to break diffraction limits and invent new kind of medical images. It consists in productively combining two very different waves -- one to provide contrast, another to provide spatial resolution -in order to build a new kind of image. Contrary to multimodality medical imaging that remains the superposition of two different images limited by their respective contrast/resolution couples, multiwave imaging overcomes this limitation by providing a unique image of the most interesting contrast with the most interesting resolution. Multiwave imaging can take benefit of three different potential interactions between waves that will be described in this presentation:

1. The interaction of the first wave with tissues during its propagation can generate a second kind of wave.
2. A first wave that carries the information about the desired contrast but has a poor spatial resolution can be modulated locally by a second kind of wave that has a good spatial resolution.
3. A first wave travelling much faster than the second one can be used to produce a movie of the slow wave propagation. This last technique allows to obtain elasticity imaging with millimetric resolution and we will present experimental results obtained with this modality in many medical applications.

Biographical Sketch
Mathias Fink, born in 1945 in Grenoble, is a French physicist, professor at the École supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris, member of the French Academy of Sciences and professor at the Collège de France. Mathias Fink received a M.S. degree in mathematics from Paris University, and the Ph.D. degree in solid state physics. Then he moved to medical imaging and received the Doctorat ès-Sciences degree from Paris University in the area of ultrasonic focusing for real-time medical imaging. Mathias Fink is a professor of physics at the Ecole Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris (ESPCI) where he founded in 1990 the Laboratory Ondes et Acoustique. He pioneered the development of time-reversal mirrors and Time Reversal Signal Processing. He developed many applications of this concept from ultrasound therapy, medical imaging, non-destructive testing, underwater acoustics, seismic imaging, tactile objects, to electromagnetic telecommunications. He also pioneered innovative medical imaging methods: transient elastography, supersonic shear imaging and multi-wave imaging that are now implemented by several companies. Four companies with close to 170 employees have been created from his research: Echosens, Sensitive Object, Supersonic Imagine and Time Reversal Communications.

Abstract
In this talk, I will review a series of recent experiments demonstrating the possibility of using real-time computational models to investigate how ensembles of neurons encode motor information. These experiments have revealed that brain-machine interfaces can be used not only to study fundamental aspects of neural ensemble physiology, but they can also serve as an experimental paradigm aimed at testing the design of a whole-body neuroprosthetic. I will also describe evidence indicating that continuous operation of a closed-loop brain machine interface, which utilizes a whole-body neuroprosthetic as its main actuator, can induce significant changes in the physiological properties of neurons located in multiple motor and sensory cortical areas. This raises the hypothesis of whether the properties of a whole-body neuroprosthetic, or any other tool, can be assimilated by neuronal representations as if they were simple extensions of the subject's own body.

Biographical Sketch
Dr. Miguel Nicolelis is the Anne W. Deane Professor of Neuroscience and Professor of Neurobiology, Biomedical Engineering and Psychology at Duke University. He is also Co-Director of Duke Center for Neuroengineering; and Co-Founder and Scientific Director of the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute for Neuroscience of Natal. Dr. Nicolelis is a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil where he received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Neurophysiology from the University of Sao Paulo. During his years as a postdoctoral fellow, and later as an independent investigator, Dr. Nicolelis pioneered the development and implementation of a new neurophysiological method, known today as chronic, multi-site, multi-electrode recordings. Using this approach in a variety of animal species, as well in intra-operative procedures in human patients, Dr. Nicolelis launched a new field of neurophysiological investigation which aims at measuring the concurrent activity and interactions of large populations of single neurons throughout the brain. Thus, for the past 20+ years, Dr. Nicolelis has devoted his career to the search for the physiological principles that govern the operation of key brain circuits in the mammalian brain. Although for the past decade, Dr. Nicolelis is best known for his pioneering studies of Brain Machine Interfaces (BMI) and neuroprosthetics in human patients and non-human primates. He has also made fundamental contributions in the fields of sensory plasticity, gustation, sleep, reward and learning. As of today, numerous neuroscience laboratories in the US, Europe, Asia, and Latin America have incorporated Dr. Nicolelis' experimental paradigm to study a variety of mammalian neuronal systems. Indeed, two of his books on multi-electrode recording techniques have become the most cited works in this field. His research has influenced basic and applied research in computer science, robotics, and biomedical engineering. This multidisciplinary approach to research has become widely recognized in the neuroscience community. Dr. Nicolelis’ research has been highlighted in MIT Review’s Top 10 Emerging Technologies. He was named one of Scientific American’s Top 50 Technology Leaders in America in 2004 and has twice received the DARPA Award for Sustained Excellence by a Performer. Other honors include the Whitehead Scholar Award; Whitehall Foundation Award; McDonnell-Pew Foundation Award; the Ramon y Cajal Chair at the University of Mexico and the Santiago Grisolia Chair at Catedra Santiago Grisolia. In 2007, Dr. Nicolelis was honored as an invited speaker at the Nobel Forum at the Karolinksa Institute in Sweden. More recently he was awarded the International Blaise Pascal Research Chair from the Fondation de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure and the 2009 Fondation IPSEN Neuronal Plasticity Prize. Dr. Nicolelis is a member of the French Academy of Science and the Brazilian Academy of Science and has authored over 150 manuscripts, edited numerous books and special journal issues, and holds three US patents.

Abstract
A primary tenet of neuroscience is that the left frontal lobe is crucial for speech production and the posterior regions of the left hemisphere play a critical role in language comprehension and word retrieval. However, recent work shows suggests the left frontal lobe may also aid in tasks classically associated with posterior regions, such as visual speech perception. We provide new evidence for this notion based on the use brain imaging (structural and functional MRI) and brain stimulation techniques (TMS and tDCS) in both healthy individuals and people with chronic stroke. Our work takes these theoretical findings and tests them in a clinical setting. Specifically, our recent work suggests that stimulation of the frontal cortex may complement speech therapy in chronic stroke. Our recent brain stimulation work using transcranial direct current stimulation supports this hypothesis, illustrating small but statistically significant benefits in anomia following brain stimulation.

Biographical Sketch
Dr. Christopher Rorden is since 2009 the Director of the Georgia Tech Center for Advance Brain Imaging and Professor at the Department of Psychology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA. He received is BA in Psychology (honors), Magna cum laude, from the University of California San Diego, and his PhD in Experimental Psychology at Cambridge University, UK. He was a post doctoral fellow at Birkbeck College and at the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience in London, UK. A tenured reader at the University of Nottingham, Dr. Rorden was a tenured associate Professor at the University of South Carolina. Prof. Rorden was honored with the Cambridge University Overseas Trust bursary, the Overseas Research Scheme scholarship, the McDonnell Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience scholarship, the St. John's College benefactors' scholarship, the British Neuropsychological Society Elizabeth Warrington Prize and the Arnold School of Public Health Research Award. He is the author or co-author of more than 80 peer-reviewed publications. According to ISI metrics, Prof. Rorden have received over 2900 career citations, representing over 600 citations per year (for 2009). Dr. Rorden is the Joint-Principal investigator, for the program “A Unified Neuroanatomical Model of Speech Production and Perception: Implications for Apraxia of Speech and Conduction Aphasia”, supported until 2014 by the National Institutes of Health, and co-Principal investigator of the project “The neural basis of processing discourse reference”, supported by the National Science Foundation. Dr. Rorden has acted as Associate Editor and reviewer for numerous scientific journals. He was a grant reviewer for the Irish Government, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council and the Medical Research Council.

Theme Keynote Lecture

Abstract
Heart rate variability (HRV), generally defined as the variations of heart rate (HR) around its mean, is an important quantitative marker of cardiovascular regulation by the autonomic nervous system. From the first HRV electrocardiographic studies, over 40 years ago, it was clear that R-wave to R-wave (R-R) interval dynamics contain well-defined rhythms associated with cardiovascular control, encouraging further investigation and leading, in 1996, to definition of a set of standard HRV measures. To date, HRV has been evaluated in thousands of studies, to characterize and diagnose diseases that affect the autonomic nervous system, follow their progression, and measure efficacy of therapy. This lecture scans through the most important advancements in HRV assessment and cardiovascular modeling, converging on the recently derived definitions of HR and HRV based on explicit point process Bayesian probability models. Point process models give a physiologically sound representation of the stochastic structure generating the heartbeat and they allow for instantaneous assessment of fast, non-stationary dynamics. Current work is focusing on incorporating the point process framework into models of cardiovascular control and autonomic regulation, with inclusion of other cardiovascular variables such as arterial blood pressure and respiration, as well as combining HRV estimates with fMRI brain imaging in order to identify human brain correlates of autonomic modulation. The presented dynamic statistical measures yield important implications for research studies of cardiovascular and autonomic regulation, and they provide the basis for potential real-time indicators for ambulatory monitoring and instantaneous assessment of autonomic control in clinical settings.

Biographical Sketch
Riccardo Barbieri was born in Rome, Italy, in 1967. He received the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy, in 1992, and the Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University, Boston, MA, in 1998. He is currently Assistant Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School - Massachusetts General Hospital and Research Affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His broad research interests are in the development of signal processing algorithms for analysis of biological systems. He is currently focusing his studies on computational modeling of neural information encoding, and on application of multivariate and statistical models to characterize heart rate variability and cardiovascular control dynamics. He is author of more than 40 peer-reviewed publications in these fields since 1994. Dr. Barbieri is a Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the European Society of Hypertension, the Society for Neuroscience, and Senior Member of IEEE and the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.

Abstract
anesthesia is a drug-induced, reversible condition comprised of five behavioral states: hypnosis (loss of consciousness), amnesia (loss of memory), analgesia (loss of pain sensation), akinesia (immobility), and hemodynamic stability with control of the stress response. The mechanisms by which anesthetic drugs induce the state of general anesthesia remain one of the biggest mysteries of modern medicine. We have been using three experimental paradigms to study general anesthesia-induced loss of consciousness in humans: combined fMRI/EEG recordings, high-density EEG recordings and intracranial recordings. These studies are allowing us to establish precise neurophysiological, neuroanatomical and behavioral correlates of general anesthesia. We will discuss the relation between our findings and two other important altered states of arousal: sleep and coma. Our findings suggest that the state of general anesthesia is not as mysterious as currently believed.

Biographical Sketch
Emery N. Brown is Professor of Computational Neuroscience and Health Sciences and Technology at MIT. He is the Warren M. Zapol Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He received his B.A. in Applied Mathematics (magna cum laude) from Harvard College, his M.D. (magna cum laude) from Harvard Medical School, and his Ph.D. in statistics from Harvard University. He completed his internship (internal medicine) at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and his residency (anesthesiology) at MGH. Dr. Brown is an anesthesiologist-statistician whose statistical research develops signal processing algorithms to study how neuronal ensembles represents and transmits information. His experimental research uses functional neuroimaging to study how anesthetics create the state of general anesthesia in the human brain. Dr. Brown serves on the Board of Mathematical Sciences and their Applications of the National Academies, the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke Advisory Council, the Board of Trustees of the International Anesthesia Research Society and he is the Co-Chair of the Advisory Committee for the Burroughs-Wellcome Fund Careers at the Scientific Interface Program. Dr. Brown is a fellow of the American Statistical Association, the AAAS, and the IEEE. He is member of the Institute of Medicine and a 2007 recipient of an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award.

Abstract
Biorobotics is an emerging and deeply interdisciplinary domain of science and technology. Based primarily on research in Robotics, Biomedical Engineering and Natural Science, Biorobotics is having an increasing impact on many sectors of engineering, and of basic and applied science. Biorobotics pursues two main objectives: a) using biomimetic robotic artefacts to generate new knowledge on how biological systems work and interact with the environment and with human beings, and to understand the scientific and engineering principles underlying their extraordinary performance; b) to design and build high performance robots for biomedical and health-related applications. A wide range of novel and exciting applications generated or inspired by biorobotics research are being introduced in such areas as surgery, endoscopy, rehabilitation, and prosthetics. This lecture will introduce the scientific framework and the paradigms of Biorobotics and will discuss how Biorobotics addresses its goals, with reference to some significant case studies. These cases will include the analysis of many biomimetic artefacts designed for scientific investigation (robotic worms, fish, lampreys, salamanders, gekos, octopus, and even plants), as well as the presentation of recent robotic solutions for substitution, augmentation, rehabilitation, endoscopic surgery, and nanomedicine.

Biographical Sketch
Paolo Dario is a Professor of Biomedical Robotics at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa. He is also a Visiting Professor at Waseda University, Japan, and at Zhejiang University, China. He is the coordinator of the ARTS (Advanced RoboticsTechnologies and Systems) Laboratory and of the CRIM (Center for the Research in Microengineering) Laboratory of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, where he supervises a team of about 140 researchers, including 70+ PhD students. He also serves as Director of the Polo Sant’Anna Valdera of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. Since September 2009, Professor Dario is the coordinator of the newly established Center of Micro-BioRobotics @Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna of the Italian Institute of Technology. His main research interests are in the fields of medical robotics, bio-robotics, mechatronics and micro/nanoengineering. He is the coordinator of many national and European projects, the editor of two books on the subject of robotics, and the author of more than 200 scientific papers (more than 160 on ISI journals). He is Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editor and member of the Editorial Board of many international journals. He has been a plenary invited speaker in many international conferences. Prof. Dario has served as President of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society in the years 2002-2003. He has been the General Chair of the IEEE RAS-EMBS BioRob’06 Conference and of the 2007 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA’07). Prof. Dario is an IEEE Fellow, a Fellow of the European Society on Medical and Biological Engineering, a Fellow of the School of Engineering of the University of Tokyo, and a recipient of many honors and awards, including the Joseph Engelberger Award. He is also a member of the Board of the International Foundation of Robotics Research (IFRR).

Abstract
Many forms of variabilities are inherent to biomedical signals and, among them, nonstationarity plays a prominent role. This can be due either to the actual nature of the analyzed signals which may undergo some temporal evolution in their structural properties (e.g., spectral changes), or to the way they are recorded prior being processed (e.g., fluctuating baseline). Dealing with nonstationarities calls for specific methods that have been thoroughly investigated during the last 20 years, with recent advances in a number of new directions. The talk will give a comprehensive view of such possible approaches, with a more detailed focus on model-free methods that will include enhanced time-frequency representations, data-driven empirical mode decompositions and wavelet-based (multi-)fractal analyses. Illustrating the usefulness of those methods on selected examples of biomedical applications will also prompt us to further reconsider the concept itself of stationarity from an operational, user-based, perspective that explicitly takes into account an observation time scale and allows for the construction of statistical tests.

Biographical Sketch
Patrick Flandrin was born in 1955. He received the engineer degree from ICPI Lyon, France, in 1978, and the Doct.-Ing. and « Docteur d'Etat » degrees from INP Grenoble, France, in 1982 and 1987, respectively. He joined CNRS in 1982, where he is currently a Research Director. Since 1991, he has been with the « Signals, Systems, and Physics » Group, Physics Department, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, France. In 1998, he spent one semester in Cambridge, U.K., as an invited long-term resident of the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences. From 2002 to 2005, he has been Director of the CNRS National Cooperative Structure « GdR ISIS ». Since 2006, he is an Advisory Professor at the East China Normal University, Shanghai, PRC and, since 2009, President of GRETSI, the French Association for Signal and Image Processing. His research interests include mainly nonstationary signal processing (with emphasis on time-frequency and time-scale methods) and the study of self-similar stochastic processes and complex systems. He has published more than 250 research papers in those areas and is the author of the book Temps-Fréquence (Hermès, 1993 and 1998), translated into English as Time-Frequency/Time-Scale Analysis (Academic Press, 1999). He has been a guest co-editor of the Special Issue « Wavelets and Signal Processing » of the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing in 1993, and the Technical Program Chairman of the 1994 IEEE-SP International Symposium on Time-Frequency and Time-Scale Analysis. Since 2001, he is the Program Chairman of the French GRETSI Symposium on Signal and Image Processing and, since 2006, the founding Director of an annual Summer School in Signal and Image Processing held in Peyresq (France). Past member of the « Signal Processing Theory and Methods » Technical Committee of the IEEE Signal Processing Society (1993-2004), he has served as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing (1990-1993, 2008-present) and Signal Processing (1994-2005). He is currently on the editorial board of Applied and Computational Harmonic Analysis, The Journal of Fourier Analysis and its Applications, Signal, Image and Video Processing, and Advances in Adaptive Data Analysis. Dr. Flandrin was a recipient of the Philip Morris Scientific Prize in Mathematics in 1991, the SPIE Wavelet Pioneer Award in 2001, and the Prix Michel Monpetit from the French Academy of Sciences in 2001. He is a Fellow of the IEEE (2002) and of EURASIP (2009).

Abstract
During mechanical interaction with our environment, we derive a perceptual experience which may be compared to that resulting from acoustic or optical stimulation. New mechanical stimulation delivery equipment capable of fine segregation of distinct cues at different length scales and different time scales now allows us to study the many aspects of haptic perception including its physics and mathematics, its biomechanics, and the computations that the nervous system must perform to achieve a perceptual outcome. This knowledge is rich in applications ranging from improved diagnosis of pathologies, to rehabilitation devices, to consumer electronics and virtual reality systems.

Biographical Sketch
Vincent Hayward received a Diplôme d'Ingénieur from Ecole Centrale de Nantes in 1978 and a Ph.D. in Computer Science in 1981 from the University of Paris XI. He was Postoctoral Fellow then Visiting Assistant Professor (1982) at Purdue University and joined CNRS, France as Chargé de Recherches (1983-86). In 1987, he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McGill University as adjunct, assistant, associate and then full professor in 2006. He was the Director of the McGill Center for Intelligent Machines from 2001 to 2004. Hayward co-founded spin-off companies, received several best paper and research awards. He is on editorial board of the ACM Transaction on Applied Perception and of the IEEE Transactions on Haptics and is a Fellow of the IEEE. As of 2008, he holds the "Chaire internationale d'haptique" at UPMC.

Abstract
Solving today’s Global Health Challenges requires a deep technical understanding of the underlying problems and needs, a strong definition of these problems as non-ambiguous engineering specifications and actively leveraging the most up to date technical advances and engineering skills available. We must also learn from the experiences of the last two decades of technical innovations in global health and engage the end-users: health care workers, patients and doctors; as co-designers in an interactive and interactive design approach. Finally, we must also maneuver global markets in new ways to stimulate economic forces and distribution channels. I’ll discuss lessons learned from previous experiences in global health technologies, the role of global regulators and then discuss three new engineering innovations in diagnostics, maternal health and vaccine delivery designed for low resource settings.

Biographical Sketch
Paul LaBarre is a technical officer and project manager with PATH’s Technology Solutions Global Program. He leads several multidisciplinary teams within PATH’s Health Innovation Portfolio and his primary focus is integration of novel technologies into the areas of vaccine delivery, maternal health, and diagnostics for low-resource settings. In addition, Mr. LaBarre is a senior advisor, providing technical and regulatory advice to multiple product development activities. He is experienced in new product development, field and laboratory evaluations, private- and public-sector collaboration, technology transfer, and standards development. Mr. LaBarre is a project leader for an International Standards Organization (ISO) committee for medical device standard development Mr. LaBarre was awarded a Regulatory Affairs Certificate from the Regulatory Affairs Professional Society. He received a master’s degree in medical engineering from the University of Washington and a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Northwestern University. His previous work experience includes nuclear engineering for 6 years as a Naval Officer on US Nuclear Submarines and composite engineering and prosthetics as a design engineer for Seattle Orthopedic Group.

Abstract
This presentation will summarize the multi-functional intracortical probe arrays developed in the framework of the NeuroProbes project (2006-2010), an Integrated Project funded by the European Commission under the Information Society Technologies (IST) topic of the 6th Framework Program. The project targets the realization and evaluation of silicon and glass based probe arrays interfacing the neural tissue on (i) the electrical, (ii) chemical and (iii) mechanical domain. The neural probes are based on a modular system architecture which allows for integration of various functionalities on the same probe shaft and the assembly of probes to 1-dimensional (1D), 2D as well as 3D arrays on a slim platform. The various probes types comprise (i) electrodes – either passive or active ones combined with CMOS circuitry integrated on the slender 140-µm-wide probe shaft, (ii) amperometric biosensors to detect neurotransmitters, i.e., choline and L-glutamate, (iii) microfluidic channels for a localized drug dispensing using a miniaturized pump to be fixed on a rat’s skull, as well as (iv) stress sensors arrays to monitor the mechanical interaction between neural tissue and the probe shafts. The CMOS integrated probes containing an unequaled number of 188 electrodes (diameter 20 μm, pitch 40 μm) per probe shaft are applied in electronic depth control (EDC) circumventing a mechanical fine adjustment of the insertion depth. Aside from the technical review of the developed probe arrays, experimental results on (i) neural recording in the motor and visual cortex using passive probes and EDC probes, (ii) on combined neural recordings during drug dispensing as well as (iii) the correlation between neurotransmitter concentration and neural activities determined using the integrated biosensors will be demonstrated.

Biographical Sketch
Patrick Ruther studied physics at the University of Konstanz, Germany, and received the Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1996. Between 1996 and 1998, he joined the Institute of Microstructure Technology IMT (Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany) as a Postdoctoral Fellow where he was responsible for industrial projects on microoptical components based on the LIGA-technology. Since October 1998, he has been a Senior Scientist and Group Leader at the Microsystem Materials Laboratory (MML), Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), Freiburg, Germany, and a Lecturer at the Technical Faculty, University of Freiburg, Germany. His focus is on the design, fabrication and characterization of CMOS-compatible microelectromechanical systems, and the development of new micromachining methods for (bio-) medical microsystems. He is Technology Coordinator of the European research project NeuroProbes developing multi-functional probe arrays for cerebral applications.

Abstract
Amorphous silicon carbide (SiC) has been used for several years as a non-biofouling coating in biomedical devices such as coronary stents and bone implants. However, up to recently, the biocompatibility of single crystal SiC, which presents appealing bio-sensing potentialities, has been in question. A comprehensive study of the biocompatibility of this wide band-gap semiconductor has been performed with extremely promising results which show the higher performance of SiC in bio-environments with respect to Si, the leading semiconductor, and introduce SiC into a unique class of materials that is both bio- and hemocompatible. The work presented here originates from these compelling in vitro findings, and brings them to a new level by confirming the biocompatibility of SiC, this time in vivo, and precisely in a neuronal environment. A semiconducting chip with 3C-SiC and Si faces was surgically implanted into the brain of a wild mouse to evaluate the response of the microglia with outstanding results. Being glial cells indicative of immuno-inflammatory response of the body to the implant, a high concentration of these cells on the chip is considered as a sign of reduced biocompatibility. The Si control shank was fully covered with activated glial cells while the 3C-SiC shank only displayed evidence of cell attachment where Si material was available to the cells. Moreover, results of an AFM study are presented here which show the degradation of Si surfaces after that a cell culture was performed on it. On the other hand the mechanical and chemical resilience of SiC, together with its outstanding performance in vivo in a neuronal environment, make it the optimum candidate for future biocompatible biomedical devices.

Biographical Sketch
Dr. Saddow’s research interests are to develop wide-bandgap semiconductor materials for biomedical applications MEMS/NEMS applications. His group has demonstrated the in-vitro biocompatibility of 3C-SiC to numerous cell lines and lately his research has focused on the central nervous system. He was recently appointed to the Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology in the US|F College of Medicine based on the interdisciplinary nature of this work. His ultimate research objective is to develop smart sensors for harsh environments and biomedical applications based on wide band gap semiconductor materials. His main expertise was in the development of a hot-wall CVD growth capability specializing in the growth of SiC epitaxial films on Si substrates. He is a senior member of the IEEE and has over 100 publications on SiC materials and devices, with nearly half in archived journals. He recently edited a book on SiC entitled Advances in Silicon Carbide Processing and Applications. For more information on Dr. Saddow's research activities visit his homepage at http://www.eng.usf.edu/~saddow