Research has shown that by monitoring the vibration of the heart using a simple sensor mounting on the human chest, the mechanical characteristics of heart can be measured. The purpose of this research is to design software that can automatically find some important points on the SCG signal. The software will be used to find hemodynamic parameters of the heart that will be used for diagnosis of ischemic heart patients. The outcome of this project is anticipated be extremely beneficial for both academia and the company.

It is the aim of this internship to develop and perform cost-analysis on a set of manufacturing protocols for batch production of high frequency annular ultrasound imaging arrays. To our knowledge this would represent the first time that such arrays have designed for high-volume (2000/wk) production, making the project highly novel. Once the process is developed, five of the arrays will be prototyped and their performance evaluated. The intern will test and improve on the manufacturing protocol and analyze the process for cost, yield and inter-device uniformity.

Cancer is a highly prevalent disease. Rapid and early detection is very important for the health of individuals. In this proposal we will employ a specialized technique developed by Panacea Global to detect the onset of cancer in both animal and cancerous muscle cells, and uniquely investigate the role of exercise in cancer progression.

Dysfunction of vital organs is one major reason why trauma victims die after sustaining a major injury, even though the organs themselves may not have been directly injured. One intervention proposed to prevent development of distant organ injury is called “Remote Ischemic Preconditioning” (RIPC), wherein application of intermittent occlusion and release of blood flow to a limb by sequentially inflating and deflating a blood pressure cuff.

Diagnostic tests that currently direct patient therapy in cancer and other diseases are more typically performed at the genetic level, despite the fact that the beneficial response to drugs and the development of resistance are rooted in the proteins that comprise the cell’s signaling pathways. We argue that this is a major gap, as proteomics can be used to understand how cells respond to inhibitors, thereby identifying patients who are responding positively at the molecular level, as well as patients who are developing resistance through the reorganization of the cell’s signaling network.

The aim of this project is to improve simultaneous EEG-fMRI techniques through the use of constrained principal component analysis (CPCA). The main problem with combining EEG measures and fMRI measures is that recording EEG in the MR scanner always injects noise into the data. CPCA partitions the variability of the data into systematic and error variance.

We propose to develop in collaboration with Medtronic Canada a bioceramic drug delivery system for the local controlled release of Biphosphonates (BP) - drugs that prevent bone resorption - to promote both tumor inhibition and bone regeneration at the site of bone tumor resection, eliminating the need for high systemic doses and side effects associated with BP.

Data anonymization focuses on removing any personal or other information that would identify an individual or a set of persons from a given collection of records. In addition, anonymization should also mask information that could potentially be combined with other publicly available data to reidentify the individuals. This project aims to study data anonymization for medical records, particularly pertaining to radiology reports that are generated through use of particular software.

Prostate cancer is the second most cancer related death in men, accounting for over 111 M$ yearly in Canada. Current prostate biopsy or therapy procedures such as transperineal brachytherapy use transrectal ultrasound guidance and  a  template to guide needles along parallel trajectories. However, pubic arch interference (PAI) with the implant path obstructs part of the prostate from being targeted by the  brachytherapy needles.

Using data obtained over a period of 15 years from Brachytherapy procedures used on patients to treat prostate cancer, statistical analysis will be carried out to confirm the hypothesis that Brachtherapy treatments offer the best outcomes at the lowest cost incomparison to other treatment modalities. The first stage of the project will be to review the scope and objectives of the study with the stakeholders and finalize the methodology for this analysis.