Žiga Špiclin, Jamie McClelland, Jan Kybic, and Orcun Goksel

Workshop on Biomedical Image Registration (WBIR) has been recognized as a top venue for researchers working on biomedical image registration problems. WBIR is a forum where novel ideas, scientific breakthroughs, proofs of concept and novel biomedical applications presented and extensively discussed.

The two-day workshop will feature oral and poster presentations, and distinguished keynote speakers. We accept full papers (10 pages, Springer’s LNCS format) and 1-page abstracts. The full papers will be published as Springer’s Lecture Notes in Computer Science booklet proceedings.

Submissions are invited in all areas of biomedical image registration. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Novel registration methodology: 2D/3D/4D, spatiotemporal/dynamic, pairwise / groupwise, slice-to-volume, projective, single/multi-modal, intra/inter-subject, model-based, patch-based, multi-channel, tracking
• Mathematical aspects of image registration: continuous/discrete optimization, real-time, similarity measures, diffeomorphisms, LDDMM, stationary velocity, inverse consistency, multi-scale
• Machine learning and deep learning techniques for registration: unsupervised / supervised / reinforcement learning, convolutional / recurrent / transformer networks, neural networks for feature extraction and matching, correspondence weighting and prediction, attention modeling, deformation learning, deep encoder-decoder networks
• Biomedical applications of registration: computer-assisted interventions, image-guided therapy, treatment planning/delivery, diagnosis/prognosis, atlas-based segmentation, label fusion, histopathology correlation, serial studies, pathology detection and localization, morphometry, biomechanics, image retrieval/restoration/fusion, imaging biomarkers for precision medicine, radiomics & radiogenomics, early proofs of concept
• Validation of registration: quantitative and qualitative methods, benchmarking, comparison studies, phantom studies, correlation to outcome, validation protocols and performance metrics, uncertainty estimation

Attention! Full paper submissions will be eligible for a Best paper award that will be presented at WBIR 2020.

The Workshop has its own submission system and programme! Please visit:

https://wbir2020.org

https://twitter.com/WBIR2020

Jorge Henriques, Simão Paredes, and Teresa Rocha

The main topic to be explored is the development of innovative algorithms able to support the clinical decision in the health management. Solutions based on computational intelligent techniques applied to modelling, diagnosis and decision of complex, nonlinear and uncertain systems should be the focus of this session.

The application of these algorithms to pHealth is particularly relevant in the proposed context, namely the presentation of approaches to risk prediction and respective patients’ stratification.

Dietmar Rafolt

The session shall deal with advanced methods of new technologies in ENT (Ear – Nose – Throat) covering segmentation supported by neuronal networks, 3D-printing of individual nasal cavities, in vivo data acquisition, in vitro and in silico simulation of the nasal airflow and development of an interdisciplinary training environment for ENT students.

Computer assisted diagnosis in ENT is based on: image information from CT-scans and respiratory resistance delivered by rhino-manometry. Based on this data the nasal airflow can be simulated by using CFD (Computational Fluid Analysis).

To accelerate manual segmentation of nasal cavities the application of artificial intelligence (AI) is shrinking the time from hours to minutes, although this part of the human body is highly varying individually. Using CFD for diagnostic purposes also needs validation of simulation results delivered by the computer. For that reason a Nasal Airflow Simulator has been developed which allows to simulate the in- and expiration cycle and measures airflow as well as pressures at different parts in the nasal cavity on an experimental basis. This device is also equipped with a data management system and allows the integration into research environments and access via the internet.

The session covers demonstrations of:

• Practical Use of a 4-Phase Rhinomanometer
• Experimental Airflow Simulations by the Nasal Airflow Simulator
• Rhinodiagnost.eu – Webservices: Upload of CT-Scans, Image Segmentations and CFD-Simulations

Leontios Hadjileontiadis

The ageing of the population together with the rising burden of chronic conditions (incl. mental diseases) and multi-morbidity bring an ever-increasing demand to strengthen disease prevention and integrate service delivery around people’s needs for health and social care. It is widely recognized that health systems must put more emphasis on prevention and adopt a person-centered rather than a disease-centered approach. The goal must be to overcome service fragmentation and to move towards integration and coordination of interventions along the continuum of care. Personalized early risk prediction models, estimating the probability that a specific event occurs in a given individual over a predefined time, can enable earlier and better intervention, prevent negative consequences on a person’s quality of life and thus result in improved individual health outcomes. This special session will focus on the latest advances on the development of such validated comprehensive models based on AI for prediction, prevention and intervention, using multiple available big data resources, along with their integration in personalized health and care pathways that empower individuals to actively contribute to risk mitigation, prevention and targeted intervention.

Gerard Cybulski

The analysis of electrical properties of tissues in living objects is used in a diverse methods of research and clinical applications including impedance spectroscopy, impedance cardiography, impedance pneumography, etc. The main purpose of the session will be to present the overview of them with the explanation of their limitations, future prospects and potential applications. We plan to show some Impedance Cardiography applications in pacemaker patients follow up, assessment of the hemodynamic parameters of human circulation during the head up tilt test in a orthostatic syncope diagnosis, pharmacological tests etc. We intend to show impedance spectroscopy application in to establishing the optimal current frequency which is required for the cardiac pacing units used for the early diagnosis of the insufficiency of the heart functions indicated by intrathoracic edema or adjustment of the heart rate to the patient exercise intensity as indicated by the minute ventilation volume signal.

Also, it is planned to present the estimation of arterial compliance using impedance cardiography signal and new devices for reliable detection of small bio-impedance variations for energy constrained embeddable sensors in the presence of large motion caused artifacts. It would be presented the accuracy assessment of the impedance-based method to detect anal sphincter injuries after natural delivery in comparison to gold standard transanal ultrasonography and anorectal manometry.

Matej Kranjc, Igor Serša, and Rosalind Sadleir

Advances in tomographic techniques over recent decades widened the scope of their applications also to the field of electrical tissue property imaging, which is the topic of this special session. Specifically, electrical conductivity distribution in tissues can be extracted from experimental data analysed by various theoretical models usually including numerical modelling implementation. Precise information on electrical tissue properties is important for various biomedical applications employing electromagnetic fields, such as electroporation applications and deep brain stimulation. The scope of this session includes but is not limited to the following potential topics: Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) as well as MR-based techniques, such as Current Density Imaging (CDI), Magnetic Resonance Electrical Impedance Tomography (MREIT), Electrical Properties Tomography (EPT) and Conductivity Tensor Imaging (CTI).

Peter Kramar and Ana Pribaković Borštnik

To be placed on the market, medical devices must comply with legal requirements, which include also management system requirements. The new legislation for medical devices, Regulation (EU) 2017/745, will become applicable on 26 May 2020. Researchers and manufacturers must identify these requirements already in early stages of the design and development of a medical device in order to avoid changes and adaptations of product in later stages and delayed placement on the market. Within the section, the experiences of researchers, developers, manufacturers, certification bodies and consultants will be exchanged.

Almir Badnjevic

Clinical Engineering session is sharing experiences, knowledge and scientific discoveries about trained and qualified medical engineering professionals who are required to design, evaluate, regulate, maintain and manage medical devices, and train on their safe use in health systems around the world.

Clinical Engineers enhance healthcare delivery by:

• Assessing and managing your health technologies
• Containing costs and increasing ROI in medical equipment
• Improving patient and staff safety
• Supporting clinical care-givers
• Innovating new care processes
• Optimizing digital medicine initiatives
• Addressing regulation challenges

Oleksandr Gryshkov and Birgit Glasmacher

Within the growing field of tissue engineering, it is of utmost interest to develop methods for storage of tissue-engineered (bioartificial) constructs. This is of high importance to ensure their on demand availability for clinical and research purposes. Cryopreservation of cells and tissue engineered constructs meets a number of challenges associated with the absence of efficient protocols for their efficient storage hampered by inhomogeneous heat and mass transfer, suboptimal configuration of cryopreservation cocktails, as well as mechanical stresses upon ice (re)crystallization during the freeze/thawing processes. This session aims at highlighting novel trends in the field of tissue engineering, biobanking and biomedical imaging focusing on cryopreservation-related technical and biomedical aspects. To facilitate cells and engineered tissues to survive low temperature storage it is important to consider a number of processes, which can only be understood combining the knowledge of engineering, physics, biology, mathematics, and chemistry. The session will provide novel insights into the emerging field of cryotechnology for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Moreover, the participants will benefit from novel information on how to perform efficient long-term storage of bioartificial tissues, from an opportunity to establish prospective cooperations and multidisciplinary networking.

Francoise Peyrin, Constantinos Pattichis, and Jari Hyttinen

EAMBES, the European Alliance for Medical And Biological Engineering Sciences, is representing the academic aspects and interests of Biomedical Engineering in Europe (see http://eambes.org). The Fellows´ division consists at the moment of 90 individuals from Europe, who have distinguished themselves by their merits and accomplishments in in this field. Each year, new EAMBES fellows are elected.

The EAMBES Fellows meeting will be held on June 16 (Read the announcement below!). It will include lectures from new EAMBES elected fellows and a business meeting.

*NEW* Announcement for EAMBES Fellows – Virtual Meeting 1 Dec, 2020 (update! Zoom link available – see below)

Published: 17 November 2020, Updated: 27 November 2020

Dear EAMBES Fellows,

As you may know, the EAMBES Fellows meeting was planned to take place during the EMBEC 2020 conference (8th European Medical and Biological Engineering Conference) in Portorož, Slovenia on Dec 1st. The EMBEC 2020 conference which had been postponed to 29 Nov-3 Dec 2020 has now been definitely cancelled (see announcement below).

Nevertheless, the EAMBES Fellows Election committee is happy to organize a short virtual meeting on Dec 1st, 14h-18h, to welcome and honor the newly elected Fellows.

The program can be downloaded by clicking here, and includes 9 scheduled presentations.
The link to the virtual meeting is the following: https://univ-grenoble-alpes-fr.zoom.us/j/91441351511?pwd=akJHUHdLV2xySkdWaUx3R2xOMkd0UT09. Meeting ID: 914 4135 1511, pass code: 302654

Françoise Peyrin (Election coordinator)
Karin Wårdell, Jari Hyttinen, Constantinos S. Pattichis, Giouseppe Baselli, Olof Lindahl

Nina Klein and Antoni Ivorra

In the scope of this session, we will focus on studies that explore the impact of electrochemical reactions during electroporation-based applications. The goal is to determine and understand significant effects of electrochemical processes, which may be detrimental or beneficial, through in vitro and in vivo experiments combined with theoretical and numerical analyses. This session will discuss applications in the reversible electroporation range, such as Electrochemotherapy, Gene Electrotransfer and Calcium Electroporation, as well as Irreversible Electroporation, both for medical applications and for food processing.

Emily Porter and Adam Santorelli

Electromagnetic-based thermal medical therapies, such as hyperthermia and microwave ablation, have shown strong potential for the treatment of diseases. In this session, topics addressing advances in the design, implementation, and testing of such systems will be covered, along with treatment planning protocols, the dielectric and thermal properties of tissues, clinical studies, and monitoring or imaging support technologies. Related topics are also welcome.

Emanuela Signori and Loree Heller

Gene therapy represents a promising approach to treat genetic disorders as well as neurodegenerative, cardiac, retinal, infectious and cancer diseases.
Among gene delivery methods, electroporation is a successfully platform. Initially described as method for cell transfections, gene transfer by electroporation is advancing in in vivo preclinical studies. Nowadays, infectious diseases and cancer treatments are the primary applications that are reaching clinical trials. Therefore, improvements of gene electroporation-based treatments has become of pivotal importance.

Aim of the session is to discuss state of the art and advances of gene electrotransfer presenting in silico, in vitro and in vivo studies. Mechanisms and protocols optimization, such as electrodes improvements, suitable electric field parameters to apply respect to complexity of tissues and organs affected by different diseases, etc., and effects of electroporation in eliciting an immune system response will be debated.

Paulo de Carvalho and Erik Bresch

The current health provision paradigm is acute illness driven, i.e., it focuses itself in handling acute situations. It is believed that the focus should be redirected towards (1) preventive healthcare, mainly by promoting healthy lifestyle changes, and (2) shifting from acute-disease treatment to disease management in NCDs. This requires a completely new approach of health organization, putting the patient in the centre, developing a continuous process of care and shifting the care from a hospital-driven approach to a home-driven (or more generally, a pervasive) approach. Some countries are rapidly moving towards this new paradigm; e.g. in Germany Physicians will be able to prescribe Heath Apps starting in 2020/21.

From the technological point of view, new low cost and accurate solutions for remote patient management are required. Mobile technologies and Apps are excellent enablers for this paradigm shift: globally 66% of the world population has a mobile phone subscription (44% with mobile data), furthermore currently there more than 325 000 health Apps available in App Stores which are downloaded over 410 000 times per hour (3.6 billion downloads in 2017). This poses a huge opportunity, but also some significant risks as most of these Apps might pose significant security, privacy and safety risks.

In this special session we will overview some of the most relevant challenges in using Health Apps both for the industry, health provision systems and end-users.

Stephen Keevil and Leandro Pecchia

Health Technology Assessment (HTA) uses holistic evaluation of health technologies (including economic, societal and contextual aspects and the needs of specific healthcare systems) to inform healthcare policy making. HTA developed mainly in the context of drug therapies. Application to medical devices requires a different approach, because devices differ radically from drugs in their nature, use, lifecycle, economics and regulatory environment. Clinical engineers and medical physicists, with their combination of technical, clinical and regulatory expertise, have important roles to play in this. Particular issues arise when implementing medical device HTA in low- and medium-income countries (LMICs). Financial limitations, restricted availability of highly-trained staff (both technical and healthcare professionals) and local needs must be taken into account when adopting HTA methodology that has been developed in more advantaged settings. At the same time, increasing financial and demographic challenges mean that technologies shown to be safe and effective in an LMIC setting may offer appropriate and cost-effective solutions for high-income countries too. In this session proposed by the IUPESM Health Technology Task Group (HTTG), these issues will be explored by invited speakers with HTA expertise from both developed and LMIC settings to consider how, through a multidisciplinary and international approach, technological solutions can be found that work globally.

Nenad Filipović

In silico clinical trials are a new paradigm for development of a new drug and medical device.

SILICOFCM project is multiscale modeling of familial cardiomyopathy which consider a comprehensive list of patient specific features as genetic, biological, pharmacologic, clinical, imaging and cellular aspects. This comprehensive approach would optimize and testing medical treatment strategy with the purpose of maximizing positive therapeutic outcome. The aim is to avoid adverse effects, drug interactions, preventing sudden cardiac death, shortening time between the drug treatment commencement and the desired result.

InSilc project is devoted to in silico mechanical stent testing within ISO 25539 standards and in silico stent deployment for metallic and biodegradable material.

In-silico projects will connect basic experimental research with clinical study and bioinformatics, data mining and image processing tools using very advanced computer models for drug, stent and patient database in order to reduce animal and clinical studies.

Magdalena Stoeva and Kang Ping Lin

The IUPESM represents the combined efforts of more than 25,000 medical physicists and 120,000 biomedical engineers working on the physical and engineering science of medicine. IUPESM is a member of the International Council for Science (ICS).

The IUPESM Medical Engineering and Physics (MEP) workshop is the newest IUPESM initiative focused on experience sharing, networking and collaboration between BMEs and MPs.
The 1st IUPESM MEP Workshop on experience sharing, networking, and collaborating in BMEs and MPs, and AI in medical imaging was hosted by ICBHI 2019, Taipei, Taiwan, 17-20 April 2019.
The 2nd IUPESM MEP Workshop on IUPESM early career chapter was hosted by III ICEHTMC, Rome, Italy, 21-22 October 2019.

• IUPESM Early career chapter
• BME & MP collaborations of Education and training (examples, new ideas, strategies)
• Medical engineering and physics workforce
• New technologies
• Discussion panel on practical guidance for BME & MP collaboration

Carlo Ricciardi

Lean Six Sigma is a methodology of the total quality management that was born from the combination of Lean Thinking and Six Sigma, two powerful managerial tools supporting the continuous improvement of processes, initially developed in the manufacturing sector. Lean thinking has been used to describe the Toyota Production System, whereas Six Sigma was created in 1987 by Motorola Corporation to improve product quality by identifying errors and mistake in manufacturing and business processes. Lean Thinking approach focuses on eliminating wastes, unreasonable things and irregularities, such as non-value added activities in a process, while Six Sigma aims at reducing the variability of the performance in a process through the application of statistical tools. In the last years, many researchers have applied Lean Six Sigma in the Public Health sector with different scopes: reducing the number of hospital-acquired infections or the wait time for patients, introducing new clinical pathways that can reduce the length of hospital stay and, consequently, the costs for hospitals or comparing drugs effect. This methodology provides the policy leaders with paradigms, tools and techniques to improve the healthcare processes.

Tilmann Sander-Thömmes and Vojko Jazbinšek

To detect non-invasively signals originating directly from neuronal populations in the brain either EEG or MEG can be used. Ease of use is clearly an advantage of EEG, but this is offset by poor signal transmission through the human skull. MEG signals in contrast are less blurred by the brain compartments, but MEG requires traditionally an expensive and complicated cryocooled device containing SQUIDs. Recently developed new sensors, so called optically pumped magnetometers (OPM), allow to measure MEG with less complicated hardware and with better ease of use. This is important both for cognitive and clinical questions, e.g., for epilepsy or Parkinson’s. These OPMs are still rapidly improving and modelling results and application requirements are needed to shape the hardware development. Fortunately theoretical results from traditional MEG can be adapted to the new sensors. In this session an overview over current application of traditional MEG are given in view of the expected performance of OPM MEG. A second part discusses theoretical results from SQUID MEG modelling adapted to OPMs. A third part describes expected innovations in OPM design and operation.

Gregor Serša, Luca Giovanni Campana, and Maja Čemažar

Electrochemotherapy is now well established local treatment, used in numerous cancer centers throughout Europe. Its effectiveness is proven on many different tumors, where different levels of responses were detected. Therefore, the improvements for its effectiveness, predictive factors and the reasons for the variability in response are sought. The research is going on in seeking new drugs to be used, biological factors that predispose the response to electrochemotherapy and the level of clinical responsiveness in multicentric studies. Furthermore, electrochemotherapy is seeking also its place in combination with other treatment modalities, specifically with targeted drugs and immune checkpoint inhibitors as well as in combination with immunogene therapy, based on gene electrotransfer. The session will search for answers to these questions and present some in on-going research.

Bor Kos and Rafael V. Davalos

The aim of numerical modelling of tissue electroporation is predicting the biological outcome of exposure of tissues to electroporation pulses. This has important applications for improving the clinical outcomes of exsiting threapies, such as electrochemothrapy and ablation with irreversible electroporation. Additionally it is also an indispensable tool for the development of novel clinical targets. The main topics of the special session will include development of tissue conductivity models, exploration of different models for predicting biological effects as well as inclusion of thermal modeling and the interaction of tissue heating with the intended treatment oucomes.

Hermann Gilly and Marc Nyssen

In African low- and medium-income countries (LMICs) public medical care turns out to remain at a low level being even worse in remote locations. For instance in Tanzania there is a lack of physicians, drugs, hospital infrastructure or incentives for doctors to provide proper treatment in remote villages (approximately 0.31 physicians per 10,000 individuals nationwide, with a lower ratio in the rural areas, where the majority of thepopulation resides; see “Modeling solutions to Tanzania’s physician workforce challenge” dx.doi.org/10.3402%2Fgha.v9.31597).
In respect to medical and laboratory equipment a major part has been donated by supporting foreign organizations or states hardly being familiar with the hospital’ actual need. In addition, the lack of hospital technicians and /or clinical engineers considerably shortens the equipment’s period in service or even prevents their installment.
Direct knowledge transfer and training of the local staff could contribute to reduce missent investments and help in building sustainable healthcare.
In this session invited speakers will highlight their on site experiences both when trying to implement software tools (like hospital information systems) and when improving the hospitals (hardware) infrastructure.

Zlatko Matjacic and Marko Munih

Rehabilitation robotics has been successfully used in clinical rehabilitation of walking for more than two decades. The scope of the existing rehabilitation robots was to enable practicing of weight-bearing and stepping aspects of bipedal locomotion while dynamic balance and movement coordination aspects have not been appropriately addressed so far.

The aim of this special session is to present recent results of research and development projects that have been or are still running in various European countries which are aimed at developing wearable robotic solutions specifically targeting dynamic balancing and movement coordination during walking. Particular emphasis is on wearable solutions that can provide one or a combination of several functions: assistive, perturbing and assessment. Application of repeatable and well-dosed perturbations during walking, providing appropriate assistive support while tackling with the unexpected perturbation as well as assessment of balancing reactions is becoming more and more important and has been identified as a real need in wide range of clinical populations.

The contributors of this special session will present a wide range of technical approaches and solutions of wearable systems suitable for treadmill as well as overground walking. Additionally, findings of experimental studies done on the presented wearable systems with neurologically intact individuals as well as with neurologically impaired individuals will be presented.

Aimée Sakes

Current instruments used during Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) are often bulky, rigid, and lack degrees of freedom, which makes it impossible to safely reach deep inside the body or interact with soft, delicate tissues. Instruments used during MIS should be soft and compliant, but designing, manufacturing, modelling and controlling such instruments brings many scientific and technological challenges. These challenges have recently begun to be addressed in the emerging research field of ‘soft robotics’. Unlike conventional robots, soft robots are soft, flexible, and adaptive.

Our soft robotics workshop will discuss the following research themes: morphology of soft animals as inspiration for the soft robot; modelling and designing of soft robots and soft actuators; implementation of advanced materials in the soft robot (including meta- and multi-materials); and adhesive surfaces for soft gripping.

Murat Kaya Yapici

There is growing interest to develop wearable sensors and systems for health monitoring applications, and a track focusing on “wearables for healthcare” would be timely and well fit to the EMBEC 2020 program. Topics of interest range from development of novel materials (electronic textiles to tattoos) to sensors, and to systems targeting specific applications ranging from wearable, portable biopotential monitors for tracking vital signs, to skin patches for drug delivery, to optical sensors for pulse monitoring, to assistive tools for rehabilitation and human-machine interaction/brain-computer interfaces. Developments in the field are especially important for scenarios including point-of-care monitoring in resource limited settings, personalized preventive medical devices, and for continuous monitoring applications.