round 01.

A-MEDICO funded projects: 2023

project 01.

SpineAlly

Themes: 01, 02

Summary coming soon.

  • Associate Professor, Cumming School of Medicine

    UCalgary Profile

project 02.

BCI Boccia Ball

Themes: 03, 04

Participation in sports provides significant development, social, and quality of life benefits. Paralympic sports, such as Boccia, provide an avenue for individuals with complex needs to participate in sports. Boccia is a precision sport in which players take turns to propel a ball towards a target. Athletes unable to throw the ball can use a ramp operated by an assistant. However, individuals with complex motor needs and limited communication cannot currently play. To address this, we have created a brain-computer interface (BCI)-enabled Boccia system. The system uses a hardware ramp and software to control the ramp position by translating the athletes brain waves into commands. Thus, allowing the athletes for more independent play and participation. 

We improved the design by engaging six patient partners, including families with BCI experience and Boccia athletes. Feedback helped us make the ramp more stable, easier to transport, and operate (Fig 1. A). The new software requires fewer selections to position the ramp, making it more user-friendly (Fig 1. B). We also added a simulation mode, allowing users to practice at home.

These improvements make the BCI-enabled Boccia system more accessible and enjoyable. Further testing will focus on how easy it is to use for the target population.

project 03.

Low-Cost Smart Bandages for Wearable Phototherapeutics

Themes: 02

Summary coming soon.

project 04.

Enhancing Antibody Stability on Biosensors: Exploring Stabilization Methods

Themes: 01, 04

Keywords: Biosensor, Point of Care (POC), Stress conditions.

Summary coming soon.

project 05.

Situation-Aware Intelligent Walker: Control based on Personalized Mobility Intent

Themes: 02, 03, 04

Summary coming soon.Age-related neurological and musculoskeletal conditions contribute to an increased prevalence of mobility impairment, and an increased demand for assistive mobility devices. Numerous studies have reported walker users with both mobility and cognitive impairment experience difficulty with the use of brakes, turning and acceleration/deceleration scenarios, and increased risk of adverse events (e.g., tripping or collisions with the device).

To mitigate the mentioned risks, in this A-MEDICO supported project, we have developed a robust perception system for assistive robotic devices for safe human-autonomy interaction and the consequent actuation, enabling a wider and safer range of mobility for users in indoor/outdoor settings. This system enhances situational awareness and safety of assistive mobility devices. It also enables reliable user intent estimation, as a key ongoing research component of the project, even under physical constraints and varying operational conditions, for individuals with mobility or cognitive impairments.  

project 06.

Elastic Wound Dressing with Structural Colorimetric Sensitivity on pH and Temperature for Real-Time

Themes: 01, 02

Monitoring pH and temperature real-time is important in medical technologies, including wound dressing. Whereas timely monitoring of the status of an open wound is critical for early intervention, temperature and pH are identified as two major indicators as increased temperature is associated with wound inflammation and increased pH may imply bacterial infection.

Hydrogel is an ideal sensor platform in aqueous media as the aqueous environment becomes a substantial part of the material itself. Colorimetric assays deliver information intuitively; keeping chromophores free from leaching has been a challenge in aqueous media. Direct ink writing is a versatile freeform manufacturing method for hydrogels; a generalizable formula to enable 3D printability can be impactful.

In our A-MEDICO supported project, a dual network hydrogel of polyacrylamide and alginate with a backbone-incorporated modified pH sensing chromophore, methacrylated phenol red (MAPR), is 3D printed by incorporating Laponite® as a universal rheological modifier to provide colorimetric response to pH, ranging from yellow (pH=4) to fuchsia (pH=10) without leaching of the chromophore. The technology is being expanded to ion and temperature sensing with smartphone assisted data acquisition system. As a next step, we are looking for a collaboration with medical device manufacturers, including those who are looking for smart solutions to add functionalities to their wound dressings or 3D printed cell culture.

project 07.

The ASIST approach

Themes: 02, 03, 04

Health care practitioners caring for patients with bone-anchored prostheses have no means of directly measuring the stability of their patients’ implants. Undetected implant loosening can lead to implant failure, requiring removal of the implant and the loss of functionality that the implant was intended to restore.

To solve this problem, we have developed the Advanced System for Implant Stability Testing (ASIST). Our specially designed handheld impactor taps gently on the external portion of the implant, allowing the resulting vibrations to be measured with an accelerometer. Our software then uses a model of the implant to directly estimate the stiffness of the bone-implant interface. The testing procedure is noninvasive, takes only a few minutes to conduct, and can be made portable for use in clinics anywhere in Alberta.


The A-MEDICO support for this project enabled the miniaturization of our lab hardware prototypes toward small, portable, remote-clinic-ready medical devices, allowing detailed monitoring of implant stability during post-surgery healing. Wider availability of the direct measurement of implant integration will provide data that will allow scientific and healthcare communities to better understand the process of bone-implant integration, leading to improved efficiency and efficacy of healthcare interventions, and most importantly, improved patient outcomes. 

project 08.

Virtual Assessment of Rotator Cuff Injury using a novel sensor for Jobe's Strength Testing

Themes: 01, 02, 03

Summary coming soon.

project 09.

Machine Learning for Time-Series Biological Sensor Data

Themes: 01, 02, 03, 04

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) can often see patterns in complex data that humans cannot.  When applied to biological sensor data, these tools offer great promise for fast non-invasive diagnostics.  However, a limitation is the need to train these networks on very large sets of raw data, with little or no “supervision”.  The goal of this project was to develop the software tools to do unsupervised learning with human electroencephalography (EEG) datasets.  We built an automated pipeline to train self-supervised transformer ANNs to classify brain states from EEG time series data.  These training approaches are broadly applicable to other biological and health sensor data and the continuation of this project aims to expand to a variety of sensor types.

project 10.

Validation of the use of StrokeSENS software to diagnose distal vessel occlusions in acute ischemic stroke

Themes: 01

Summary coming soon.

project 11.

Development of robust and universal test standards to assess the durability and safety of heating textiles used in medical applications

Themes: 04

Joule heating textiles is a technology enabling e-textiles: heat is generated when current flows through electrically conductive materials. They offer major opportunities in healthcare among others. Several wearable textile products are already on the market, for example therapeutic heating pads. However, no test standards are available to assess the quality of Joule heating textile products yet while several issues have been reported in terms of efficiency, durability, and safety.

In the project, we have developed test protocols of Joule heating textiles’ durability: resistance to abrasion, laundering, perspiration, fatigue bending and fatigue stretching. The universality of the test methods was established with different textile structures encountered in commercial heating products: woven, nonwoven, knitted, coated, inserted, and embroidered. The work also includes Joule heating textile safety assessment with the propensity to short circuits and overheating. These robust and universal test methods are examined by the Technical Committee TC 124 (Wearable electronic devices and technologies) of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standardization organization for adoption as standards.

  • Associate Professor, Faculty of Agricultural, Life & Environmental Sciences

    UAlberta Profile

project 12.

Developing a novel tool for non-invasive vertebral strength assessment at the spine based on computed tomography

Themes: 04

Routine computed tomography (CT) scans contain a wealth of untapped data that could transform image-guided treatments, particularly in the area of bone health. With 549 CT scanners across Canada, including 55 in Alberta, performing around 5.41 million scans annually automatic extraction of quantitative data from these images enable improved long-term management of conditions like osteoporosis and surgical planning. With recent advances in artificial intelligence, there is a new opportunity to advance spine research by combining mechanical simulation techniques of finite element (FE) modelling with machine learning. This project aims to create a novel tool that employs FE modelling with machine-learning semantic segmentation of conventional computed tomography scans based on machine learning to non-invasively estimate the bone strength of lumbar vertebrae. Our proposed method will enable high-throughput quantitative bone strength analysis by integrating several novel tools to produce a pipeline that enables, for the first time, automated CT image analysis. Applications include assessing bone changes during cancer treatment, guiding augmentation therapies for poor bone quality in spinal surgery, and estimating fracture risk in osteoporosis. This project seeks to provide solutions to unmet healthcare needs by developing and validating a clinically meaningful workflow for CT-based bone strength assessment.

  • Professor, Cumming School of Medicine & Schulich School of Engineering

    UCalgary Profile

project 13.

Creativity for Purpose: A New Focus on Human Centered Design for Assistive Device Development

Summary coming soon.

  • Associate Vice President, Applied Research

    RDP Profile

project 14.

Testing the feasibility, safety and acceptability of the SOCC: A Pilot Study

Themes: 03, 04

Summary coming soon.

  • Professor & Director, Medicine & Sensory Motor Adaptive Rehabilitation Technology (SMART) Network

    UAlberta Profile