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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Institute of Biomedical Engineering (BME)
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250909T120000
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UID:10000583-1757419200-1757422800@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Invited Academic Seminar Series - Cindy Chestek- Neuroprostheses for Controlling Hand and Finger Movements
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Brain machine interfaces or neural prosthetics have the potential to restore movement to people with paralysis or amputation\, bridging gaps in the nervous system with an artificial device. Microelectrode arrays can record from up to hundreds of individual neurons in motor cortex\, and machine learning can be used to generate useful control signals from this neural activity. Performance can already surpass the current state of the art in assistive technology in terms of controlling the endpoint of computer cursors or prosthetic hands. The natural next step in this progression is to control more complex movements at the level of individual fingers. Our lab has approached this problem in three different ways. For people with upper limb amputation\, we acquire signals from individual peripheral nerve branches using small muscle grafts to amplify the signal. Human study participants have been able to control individual fingers on a prosthesis using indwelling EMG electrodes within these grafts. For spinal cord injury\, where no peripheral signals are available\, we implant Utah arrays into finger areas of motor cortex\, and have demonstrated the ability to control flexion and extension in multiple fingers simultaneously. Finally\, finger control is ultimately limited by the number of independent electrodes that can be placed within cortex or the nerves\, and this is in turn limited by the extent of glial scarring surrounding an electrode. Therefore\, we developed an electrode array based on 8 um carbon fibers\, no bigger than the neurons themselves to enable chronic recording of single units with minimal scarring. The long-term goal of this work is to make neural interfaces for the restoration of hand movement a clinical reality for everyone who has lost the use of their hands. \nBio: Cynthia A. Chestek received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Case Western Reserve University in 2005 and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 2010. She is an associate professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Michigan\, Ann Arbor\, MI\, where she joined the faculty in 2012. She runs the Cortical Neural Prosthetics Lab\, which focuses on brain and nerve signals from implantable electrodes to control precise hand movements. Her lab also develops carbon fiber electrodes smaller than neurons that could enable even higher density interfaces to the nervous system. She is the author of 94 full length manuscripts and has advised 21 PhD students.
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/invited-academic-seminar-series-cindy-chestek/
LOCATION:Toronto Rehabilitation Institute\, 550 University Ave\, 2nd Floor Auditorium\, 550 University Ave\, Toronto\, Ontario\, M5G 2A2\, Canada
CATEGORIES:BME Invited Academic Speaker Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://bme.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Invited-Academic-Seminar-Series-Cindy-Chestek-Neuroprostheses-for-Controlling-Hand-and-Finger-Movements.jpeg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250912T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250912T120000
DTSTAMP:20250903T145141Z
CREATED:20250903T135611Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250903T145141Z
UID:10000597-1757674800-1757678400@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Compatibility 2.0: How molecular HLA compatibility is shaping up the future of organ transplant
DESCRIPTION:Speaker\nDr. Massimo Mangiola\n      Ph.D.\, D(ABHI)\, Clinical Associate Professor\, Pathology\n      Histocompatibility Laboratory Director\, NYU Langone Transplant Institute \n \n\nDate & Time\nFriday\, September 12\, 2025\n      11:00 AM – 12:00 PM \n \n\nLocation\n2nd Floor\, Red Room\, Donnelly Centre\n      160 College St\, Toronto\, ON M5S 3E1 \n \nVirtual Participation\nZoom Link: https://zoom.uss/j/5788426019 \nBiography\nDr. Mangiola is Director of the NYU Langone Immunogenetics Laboratory and Clinical Associate Professor at NYU Langone Health. With over 15 years in transplant immunology\, he has led HLA labs across Boston\, Providence\, and Pittsburgh\, and trained at Tufts Medical Center (Boston\, MA). An Associate of ACHI and Scientific Curator of the HLA Eplet Registry\, Dr. Mangiola is widely published and actively researches the role of molecular HLA mismatch in solid organ transplantation and the immunological barriers to porcine xenotransplantation.
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/compatibility-2-0-how-molecular-hla-compatibility-is-shaping-up-the-future-of-organ-transplant/
CATEGORIES:External Speaker Series
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250912T161000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250912T162500
DTSTAMP:20250912T160728Z
CREATED:20250905T180504Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250912T160728Z
UID:10000600-1757693400-1757694300@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Student Seminar Series - Jonathan Wu
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Student Seminar Series\nPlease ensure you invite your Principal Investigator by adding their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nLocation: MS2158 – 1 King’s College Circle\nPresentation Title: A multiwavelength ring device platform for mitigating the impact of skin tone in pulse oximetry\nSupervisor Name: Daniel Franklin\nYear of Study: 5\nProgram of Study: PhD\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-student-seminar-series-jonathan-wu-2/
LOCATION:MS2158
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250912T162500
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250912T164000
DTSTAMP:20250912T160728Z
CREATED:20250905T180504Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250912T160728Z
UID:10000601-1757694300-1757695200@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Student Seminar Series - Srdjan Sumarac
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Student Seminar Series\nPlease ensure you invite your Principal Investigator by adding their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nLocation: MS2158 – 1 King’s College Circle\nPresentation Title: Multimodal physiomarker investigations to optimize deep brain stimulation therapy\nAbstract: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an established therapy for Parkinson’s disease when medication no longer controls motor symptoms. Conventional DBS delivers continuous stimulation without accounting for symptom state\, which can lead to overstimulation and stimulation-induced side effects. Since stimulation cannot adapt to symptoms\, patients often require lengthy and repeated reprogramming. These limitations motivate adaptive DBS systems that adjust stimulation in real time using brain-derived physiomarkers. This work examined electrophysiological signals recorded during DBS surgery in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and globus pallidus internus (GPi). Neuronal firing rates showed disease-related changes but did not scale with symptom severity. In contrast\, beta oscillations correlated with motor impairment\, though their suppression during stimulation reduces their utility as control signals. Stimulation-evoked responses provided insight into how DBS engages basal ganglia circuits and suggested restoration of striatal–pallidal synaptic strength. An additional oscillatory response\, evoked recurrent neural activity (ERNA)\, reflected loop activity between STN and pallidum\, and ERNA features were associated with bradykinesia severity. Together\, these findings identify candidate physiomarkers and offer mechanistic insights to guide future adaptive DBS devices.\nSupervisor Name: Luka Milosevic\nYear of Study: 5\nProgram of Study: PhD\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-student-seminar-series-srdjan-sumarac/
LOCATION:MS2158
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20250912T164000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20250912T165500
DTSTAMP:20250912T160728Z
CREATED:20250905T180504Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250912T160728Z
UID:10000602-1757695200-1757696100@bme.utoronto.ca
SUMMARY:Graduate Student Seminar Series - Mahwish Khan
DESCRIPTION:Graduate Student Seminar Series\nPlease ensure you invite your Principal Investigator by adding their email via the ‘Add Guest’ button and they will also be notified of your presentation.\nLocation: MS2158 – 1 King’s College Circle\nPresentation Title: Word-Level American Sign Language Translation Using Deep Learning Leveraging Hand\, Face and Body Key Points\nAbstract: Sign language is the primary form of communication used in Deaf and hard-of-hearing populations. Unlike verbal languages relying on voice and sound\, sign languages are visual modes of communication\, relying on movements of the hands\, face\, and body. Training machine/deep learning models to assess and produce translations from signs has been an emerging area of work. This study aims to evaluate whether incorporating facial and body key point data alongside hand data improves the classification accuracy of American Sign Language (ASL) word-level translation. A temporal graph convolutional network (TGCN)  is trained with human joint key points that are extracted from video files of ASL signs representing an English word. The dataset contains 21\,095 video samples covering 2\,000 unique ASL signs. From these\, 136 key points are extracted from each frame using AlphaPose \, of which there are 21 points for each hand (42 total for both hands)\, 68 points for the face\, and 26 other points for the body (e.g. shoulders\, elbows\, wrists\, etc.). The current evaluation involves training models on different combinations of key points\, comparing hand-only data with combined hand and face key points. Preliminary findings indicate improved classification accuracy when facial key points are included.\nSupervisor Name: Tom Chau\nYear of Study: 2\nProgram of Study: MASc\nPowered by Calendly.com
URL:https://bme.utoronto.ca/event/graduate-student-seminar-series-mahwish-khan/
LOCATION:MS2158
CATEGORIES:Graduate Seminar Series
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