On the 26th of September 2023, the 37th CIBM Breakfast & Science Seminar chaired by Daniel Wenz CIBM MRI EPFL section and Elda Fischi Gomez, CIBM SP CHUV-EPFL section hosted two speakers.
Antonino M. Cassarà,
Project Leader, Neurostimulation. Foundation for Research on Information Technologies in Society, Zurich
In Silico Modelling – an Important Pillar for Medical Innovations
Abstract:
The development of novel medical technologies and therapies to treat conditions or to restore lost physiological functionalities is a slow and expensive process that requires considerable scientific and technological effort. In silico methodologies – i.e., computational modeling to elucidate, investigate, and predict the interaction between medical devices and the human body for targeted device design, treatment optimization and personalization, and safety and efficacy assessments – can substantially reduce this burden.
In the seminar, I will discuss how in silico investigations have accelerated the journey of several medical innovations from concept to market in the context of bioelectronic medicine, non-invasive brain stimulation, and MRI safety. The topics of regulatory-graded modeling, in silico trials, translational studies, and precision medicine will be discussed and challenges identified.
About the speaker:
Dr. Antonino M. Cassarà earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from the Università degli Studi di Catania, Italy in 2004 and his PhD in physics at the Università di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Italy, in 2008. He joined the IT’IS Foundation in May 2014 as a postdoctoral fellow to work on projects related to the MRI-conditional safety of medical implants. Since 2017, he is IT’IS project leader for neurostimulation. His main research activities include investigations related to the prediction of safety and performance of neural interfaces for bioelectronic medicine and brain stimulation, as well as personalization and optimization of brain stimulation.
Antonino has served as a scientific reviewer for several peer-reviewed scientific journals, as well as national funding agencies. He recently became a certified expert in regulatory, quality, and clinical affairs related to medical devices. He contributes to the development of multiple platforms for computational life sciences, including Sim4Life (ZMT Zurich Med Tech AG, Zurich, Switzerland) and the U.S. National Institutes of Health-funded o2S2PARC platform for collaborative computational neurosciences.
Gabriel Girard,
Staff Scientist Department of Computer Science, Université de Sherbrooke, Canada
Assessing the Predictive Capacity of Diffusion MRI Tractography for White Matter Structural Connectivity Estimation
About the speaker:
Gabriel Girard is a staff scientist at Sherbrooke University in Canada. His primary research focus centers around white matter reconstruction using diffusion MRI data. Gabriel obtained a double PhD in computer science from both Sherbrooke University in Canada and the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis in France. His doctoral research was conducted under the direction of Prof. Maxime Descoteaux, Prof. Kevin Whittingstall, and Prof. Rachid Deriche. In 2016, Gabriel started a postdoc at EPFL, where he worked with Prof. Jean-Philippe Thiran as a recipient of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie EPFL Fellowship. Subsequently, he became part of the research community at CIBM CHUV-EPFL, as a research staff scientist until 2022.
RECORDINGS
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The monthly meet-up seminar series is a great environment to ask questions or to share insights on challenges and solutions. It’s also a good way to broaden and enrich professional networks.
Revisit past seminars and stay tuned for the next CIBM Breakfast and Science Seminar.