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News U27

News U27

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Numerical models applied to the cornea to improve eye surgery

Researchers of the NANBIOSIS U13 apply numerical models to the cornea to better understand how it behaves and help in surgical planning. Data and algorithms developed through the computer, together with the 3D image, make it easier for ophthalmologists to perform eye surgery more precise and personalized treatments for each patient

The work carried out by Miguel Ángel Ariza Gracia at the Aragón Engineering Research Institute (I3A) has been recognized by the University of Zaragoza with the Extraordinary Award for the Best Doctoral Thesis of the Biomedical Engineering Program in 2017

In this line of research, framed in the European project PopCorn has been working Miguel Angel Ariza since September 2013 under the supervision of Begoña Calvo and José Félix Rodríguez Matas, the research group in Applied Mechanics and Bioengineering (AMB) of the I3A – CIBER -BBN, which coordinates the unit 13 of NANBIOSIS and the Laboratory of Biological Structure Mechanics (LabS) of the Politecnico di Milano, respectively. The Mechanical Characterization of Biological Tissues that the project needs is carried out in NANBIOSIS U13 Tissue & Scaffold Characterization Unit. Unit 27 High Performance Computing of NANBIOSIS is also used in this project for the Computational Simulation of Biological Tissues.

The advances in corneal biomechanics open new ways and possibilities to create technical equipment that allow to know the mechanical properties and characteristics of the eye

Here are joined three technologies, the topography (allows to measure the geometry of the cornea), the tonometry of no contact or breath of air (deforms the cornea to obtain dynamic variables that are believed associated with the properties of the cornea) and the models in silico or numerical. The three, together with the phenoptic image technology, “can make it possible to obtain the geometry of a patient’s eye, with its personalized properties to give better advice to doctors in refractive surgeries or in the planning of another surgical intervention,” explains Miguel Angel Ariza

Begoña Calvo, who also works on the numerical modeling of other structures such as skeletal muscle, points out that this “generic” process of reconstruction, transfer of clinical data to the model and generation of a finite element model can be used to simulate other treatments or reproduce different surgical techniques. “The work of Miguel Ángel has allowed us to delve into what is now known as artificial intelligence, having the necessary algorithms to generate databases that can be used in the clinic,” he says.

Fibers of collagen in the cornea

The quality of the cornea tissue depends on the collagen fibers that we have embedded in the corneal stroma, its orientation is what gives that transparency and its links (crosslinks) structural integrity. “Our proposal is to go a step further, to work to better understand collagen fiber,” explains Ariza.

Nowadays, “there is no technical team that provides all the properties and allows to know what quality the corneal tissue has to be able to adequately respond to surgery and subsequent treatments,” recalls Dr. Calvo.

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Pablo Laguna New Elevated IEEE Fellow for his contributions to cardiac biomedical signal processing

Pablo Laguna, Scientific Director of NANBIOSIS Unit 27, has recently been appointed as a select member (IEEE fellow) of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers within the society of Medical Engineering and Biology -IEEE-EMBS-.

The grade of Fellow recognizes unusual distinction in the profession and is conferred only by invitation of the IEEE Board of Directors upon a person with an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of IEEE’s designated fields of interest, in this case, Dr. Laguna is recognized for his contributions to cardiac biomedical signal processing.

The IEEE-EMBSis the world’s largest international society of biomedical engineers. The 11,000 members of the organization reside in some 97 countries around the world. EMBS provides its members access to people, information, ideas and opinions that are shaping one of the fastest growing fields in science.

Pablo Laguna is Professor of Signal Theory and Communications at the School of Engineering and Architecture (EINA) and group leader of the CIBER-BBN and University of Zaragoza research group BSICoS . His work focuses on the search of non-invasive indexes to predict the risk of arrhythmias, the modeling and simulation of cardiac electrophysiology, the evaluation and quantification of the activity of the autonomic nervous system and the processing and characterization of biomedical signals in respiratory pathologies. He has been Scientific Director of the CIBER-BBN from 2011 to 2015.

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Posters presentation by NANBIOSIS Units in CIBER-BBN ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2017

Last 13 and 14 of November, CIBER-BBN  has celebrated its 11th Annual Conference in Hotel Santemar in Santander. In this conference there was a poster session with the participation of the following Units of NANBIOSIS. Special mention deserves Unit 1 with Neus Ferrer as Director and  Paolo Saccardo as Coordinator (in the picture):

Posters:

U1. Protein Production Platform (PPP):

Engineering protein complexes as nano- or micro-structured vehicles or drugs for human and veterinary medicine. Ugutz Unzueta, Naroa Serna, Laura Sánchez-García, José Vicente Carratalá, Olivia Cano-Garrido, Mercedes Márquez, Paolo Saccardo, Rosa Mendoza, Raquel Díaz, Héctor, López-Laguna, Julieta Sánchez, Anna Obando, Amanda Muñoz, Andrés Cisneros, Eric Voltà, Aida Carreño, José Luis Corchero, Neus Ferrer-Miralles, Esther Vázquez, Antonio Villaverde.

Units  U1. Protein Production Platform (PPP) and U18. Nanotoxicology Unit:

Intrinsic functional and architectonic heterogeneity of tumor-targeted protein nanoparticles. Mireia Pesarrodona, Eva Crosa, Rafael Cubarsi, Alejandro Sanchez-Chardi, Paolo Saccardo, Ugutz Unzueta, Fabian Rueda, Laura Sanchez-Garcia, Naroa Serna, Ramón Mangues, Neus Ferrer Miralles, Esther Vázquez, Antonio Villaverde.

Units U3. Synthesis of Peptides Unit, U6. Biomaterial Processing and Nanostructuring Unit, and U20. In Vivo Experimental Platform:

Synthesis of different length monodisperse COL-PEG-PEPTIDE to increase biodisponibility of multifunctional nanovesicles for Fabry’s desease. Edgar Cristóbal-Lecina; Daniel Pulido; Solène Passemard; Elizabet González-Mira; Jaume Veciana; Nora Ventosa; Simó Schwartz; Ibane Abasolo; Fernando Albericio and Miriam Royo.

Units U13. Tissue & Scaffold Characterization Unit and U17. Confocal Microscopy Service::

Preclinical behavior of medium-chain cyanoacrylate glue with two different surgical application forms for mesh fixation in abdominal wall repair. Gemma Pascual, Bárbara Pérez-Köhler, Marta Rodríguez, Claudia Mesa-Ciller, Ángel Ortillés, Estefanía Peña, Begoña Calvo, Juan M. Bellón.

Units U27. High Performance Computing and U8. Micro – Nano Technology Unit:

Inspiration and Expiration Dynamics in Acute Emotional Stress Assessment. Javier Milagro, Eduardo Gil, Jorge M. Garzón-Rey, Jordi Aguiló, Raquel Bailón.

U5. Rapid Prototyping Unit:

Poly-DL-lactic acid films functionalized with collagen IV as carrier substrata for corneal epithelial stem cells. Ana de la Mata, Miguel Ángel Mateos-Timoneda, Teresa Nieto-Miguel, Sara Galindo, Marina López-Paniagua, Xavier Puñet, Elisabeth Engel, Margarita Calonge.

U6. Biomaterial Processing and Nanostructuring Unit:

Strategy for engineering myoglobin nano-traps for biomedical sensing technology. E. Laukhina, O. V. Sinitsyna, N. K. Davydova, V. N. Sergeev, A. Gomez, I. Ratera, C. Blázquez Bondia, J. Paradowska, X. Rodriguez, J. Guasch, Jaume Veciana.

Structure and nanomechanics of quatsome membranes. B. Gumí-Audenis, L. PasquinaLemonche, J.A. Durán, N. Grimaldi, F. Sanz, J. Veciana, I. Ratera, N. Ventosa and M.I. Giannotti

U7. Nanotechnology Unit:

Bioreceptors nanostructuration study for early detection of Alzheimer. José Marrugo, Dr. Samuel Dulay, Dr. Mònica Mir, Prof. Josep Samitier.

RGD dendrimer-based nanopatterns promote chondrogenesis and intercellular communication for cartilage regeneration. Ignasi Casanellas, Anna Lagunas, Iro Tsintzou, Yolanda Vida, Daniel Collado, Ezequiel Pérez-Inestrosa, Cristina Rodríguez, Joana Magalhães, José A. Andrades, José Becerra, Josep Samitier.

Long-range electron transfer between redox partner proteins. Anna Lagunas, Alejandra GuerraCastellano, Alba Nin-Hill, Irene Díaz-Moreno, Miguel A. De la Rosa, Josep Samitier, Carme Rovira, Pau Gorostiza.

U8. Micro – Nano Technology Unit:

Miniaturized multi-sensing platform for pH and Dissolved Oxygen monitoring in Organ-On-aChip systems. M. Zea, A. Moya, I. Gimenez, R. Villa, G. Gabriel.

Electrochemical characterization of SWCNTs based microelectrodes fabricated by inkjet printing. M. Mass, A. Moya, G. Longinotti, M. Zea, M. Muñoz, E. Ramon, L. Fraigi, R. Villa, G. Ybarra, G. Gabriel.

U9. Synthesis of Nanoparticles Unit:

In vivo imaging and local persistance of polymeric micro- and nanomaterials labelled with the near infrared dye IR820. Isabel Ortiz de Solórzano, Gracia Mendoza, Inmaculada Pintre, Sara García-Salinas, Víctor Sebastián, Vanesa Andreu, Marina Gimeno, Manuel Arruebo.

U10. Drug Formulation:

Cationic nioplexes-in-polysaccharide-based hydrogels as versatile biodegradable hybrid materials to deliver nucleic acids. Santiago Grijalvo, Adele Alagia, Gustavo Puras, Jon Zárate, Judith Mayr, José Luis Pedraz, Ramon Eritja

U12. Nanostructured liquid characterization unit:

Perfluorocarbon-loaded Nanocapsules from Nano-emulsion Templates as Microbubble Precursors for Biomedical Applications. G. Calderó, A. González, M. Monge, C. Rodríguez-Abreu, M.J.García-Celma, C. Solans.

Biodistribution study of polymeric drug-loaded nanoparticles in murine model. Marta Monge, Aurora Dols, Stephane Fourcade, Aurora Pujol, Carlos Rodríguez-Abreu, Conxita Solans.

U16. Surface Characterization and Calorimetry Unit:

Behavior and a comparative study between tantalum and titanium alloy implant surfaces against bacterial adhesion. M.A. Pacha-Olivenza, M.L. González-Martín.

Bacterial adhesion on calcium ion-modified titanium implant surfaces. M.A. Pacha Olivenza, R. Tejero, M. Delgado-Rastrollo, M.L. González-Martín.

Bioactive coatings to promote tissue regeneration and ingrowth into 3D custom-made porous titanium endoimplants (COATREG-3D). Santos-Ruiz L; Granados JF; Ruiz F; Yáñez JI; González A; Cabeza N; Vida Y; Pérez-Inestrosa E; Izquierdo-Barba I; Vallet-Regí M; Rubio J; Orgaz F; Rubio N; González ML; Peris JL; Monopoli D; Becerra J.

U17. Confocal Microscopy Service:

Subcutaneous implantation of a biodegradable apatite/agarose scaffold: biocompatibility and osteogenesis characterization in a rat model. Natalio García-Honduvilla, Gemma Pascual, Miguel A. Ortega, Alejandro Coca, Cynthia Trejo, Jesús Román, Juan Peña, María V. Cabañas, Julia Buján, and María Vallet-Regí.

U25. NMR: Biomedical Applications I:

Dual T1/T2 NCP-based novel contrast agents for brain tumor MRI: a preclinical study. Suarez, S; Arias-Ramos, N; Candiota, AP; Lorenzo, J; Ruiz-Molina, D; Arús, C; Novio, F.

Metronomic treatment in immunocompetent preclinical GL261 glioblastoma: effects of cyclophosphamide and temozolomide. Ferrer-Font, L; Arias-Ramos, N; Lope-Piedrafita, S; Julià- Sapé, M; Pumarola, M; Arús, C; Candiota, AP.

U26. NMR: Biomedical Applications II:

Gated nanodevices for innovative medical therapies. Maria Alfonso, Irene Galiana, Beatriz Lozano, Borja Diaz de Greñu, Cristina de la Torre, Andrea Bernardos, Sameh El Sayed, Daniel MuñozEspin, Miguel Rovira, José Ramón Murguía, Manuel Serrano, Ramón Martínez-Máñez.

NANOPROBE: Gated sensing materials and devices for the detection of infectious diseases and urological cancer. Ángela Ribes, Luís Pla, Sara Santiago-Felipe, Alba Loras-Monfort, M.Carmen Martínez-Bisbal, Elena Aznar, Guillermo Quintás-Soriano, José Luis Ruiz-Cerdá, María Angeles.

 

 

 

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Two researchers from NANBIOSIS Unit 27 obtain new European projects “Marie Curie”

The European Union has selected the projects sponsored by two researchers from Unit 27 of NANBIOSIS: Esther Pueyo, with “PIC”, to customize the diagnosis and cardiovascular treatment and Pablo Laguna, with “MY-ATRIA”, to improve the early detection of arrhythmias Cardiac. Both projects include massive calculations that will be executed through  unit 27 of NANBIOSIS, High Performance Computing.

“MY-ATRIA” / Mutlidisciplinary and training network for Atrial fibrillation monitoring, treatment and progression “, by Pablo Laguna, Professor of Signal Theory and Communication and researcher of the group BSICoS of I3A and CIBER-BBN and Scientific Director of Unit 27 of NANBIOSIS, will affect the early detection of Atrial fibrillation, since it is one of the most frequent cardiac arrhythmias in the adult population. We will study the cellular electrophysiological analysis that leads to the appearance of the arrhythmias so as to be able to design more efficient drugs and to guide the surgeon efficiently in the surgical interventions of ablation of the arrhythmia with minimal affectation on the atrium.

In this project with 3M euros to train 12 researchers, the group will receive 500,000 euros to hire two young pre-doctoral students.

“PIC- Personalized In-Silico Cardiology”, obtained by Esther Pueyo, a professor and researcher at the I3A at the University of Zaragoza, who holds a ‘Starting Grant’, seeks the development of mathematical and computational tools to model cardiovascular physiology in healthy subjects and patients with cardiovascular diseases and evaluate different forms of therapy.

PIC, which will train 15 researchers, has 3.9M euros, of which 250,000 euros correspond to the BSICoS group, coordinator of Unit 27 of NANBIOSIS. The network is coordinated by King’s College London and involves seven universities from EU countries as well as nine other non-academic organizations, including IBM, Medtronic and Janssen Pharmaceutica, or John Radcliffe Hospital.

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NANBIOSIS at the VI Conference of Young Researchers

On June 2, the VI Conference of Young Researchers organized by the I3A at the University of Zaragoza was held, aimed at doctoral students who have as director or co-director an I3A member.

The inaugural lecture was given by José Antonio Sanz Herrera (Professor Contractor Doctor at the University of Seville and who held his doctorate at I3A) who has talked about Multidisciplinary Research as the basis of the young professor in engineering.

After the inaugural conference a first block was opened with four oral presentations, giving way to the poster session and coffee. A second and final block with four oral presentations will be held next.

One of the presentations has been made by the research group that coordinates Unit 13 of NANBIOSIS with the title “3D simulation of intraestromal ring implants for the stabilization of keratoconus“. Another of the presentations “Heart Rate Variability Analysis in Risk of Asthma Stratification” was in charge of the Coordinating Group of Unit 27 of NANBIOSIS.

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Three Scientifics of NANBIOSIS in University of Zaragoza ERC 10 years celebration event

2017 is the year of the X Anniversary of the European Research Council (ERC), created to finance research projects of excellence at the frontier of knowledge of any scientific discipline.

The structure of the ERC consists of an autonomous scientific council made up of 22 distinguished scientists supported by an executive agency that is responsible for implementing the program, organizing the evaluation and managing the aid.

The University of Zaragoza, hosting three units of NANBIOSIS, joined the celebrations with an event that took place on March 15. Among the assistants, three Scientists of NANBIOSIS recognized with ERC:

Jesús Santamaría, Scientific Director of Unit 9 of NANBIOSIS, received an Advanced Grant, on the senior side, with a funding of 1.85 M. for his project Héctor.

Manuel Arruebo, researcher of the group of Nanostructured Films and Particles, coordinator of Unit 9 of NANBIOSIS, obtained the Consolidator Grant endowed with 1.5 M of euros with a Nanobiomedicine project.

Esther Pueyo, researcher of the group BSICoS, coordinator of Unit 27 of NANBIOSIS, obtained an ERC Started Grant for her Modelage project, financed with 1.5 M euros.

 

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NANBIOSIS by Pablo Laguna in CIBER-BBN Bulletin

Pablo Laguna, Scientific Director of Unit 27 of NANBIOSIS considers the added value offered by the ICTS NANBIOSIS in an interview at February 2017 CIBER-BBN Bulletin.

“The relevance of the ICTS NANBIOSIS is to make available to the entire scientific community of unique infrastructures that are shared and exploited in the most optimal way avoiding redundancies.” – Explains Pablo Laguna – “Having an incentive interaction mechanism, within the same centre, it has been addressed and are tackling challenges and projects with much greater depth, both in the excellence of the research, and in its possibilities of translation to the clinic and industry.”

Pablo Laguna Scientific Director of CIBER-BBN during 2011-2015, played an important role in the creation and impulse of NANBIOSIS, signing a scientific and technological cooperation agreement with Jesus Usón Minimally Invasive Surgery Center (JUMISC) in November 2011 that served as the basis for the creation of NANBIOSIS and its incorporation to the Map of Spanish ICTS (Singular Scientific Technological Infrastructures) in 2014.

Laguna also explains for the CIBER-BBN Bulletin the research lines of the BSICoS group, coordinator of unit 27 of NANBIOSIS, which focuses on the search for non-invasive indicators to predict the risk of arrhythmias, modelling and simulation of cardiac electrophysiology, evaluation and quantification of the activity of the autonomic nervous system and the processing and characterization of biomedical signals in respiratory diseases.

To know more

NANBIOSIS by Pablo Laguna in CIBER-BBN Bulletin
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Equations that can save thousands of lives

Esther Pueyo, from the research group BSICoS, coordinator of Unit 27 of NANBIOSIS, explains for the program “En route with science” of Aragon Television, her research on arrhythmias: irregularities in the functioning of the heart. Arrhythmias are the cause of 25,000 deaths per year and half of hospital admissions in Spain.

First of all they study experimentally (extracting tissues from the heart of animals and humans) how the electrical activity of the said tissues is. Then, the information collected is introduced in mathematical models to understand the heart and to make predictions of what can happen in the future and why some behaviours in the heartbeat of a patient can be dangerous. For that process, stochastic equations are used that do not have a single solution and adapt to the variability of biology. These equations allow researchers to better interpret what the electrocardiogram signals say and to make predictions of risk with greater reliability. This is a multidisciplinary research in which mathematicians, engineers, physicists, biologists, electrophysiologists collaborate to make the most of the data obtained from patients.

To carry out this research, Esther Pueyo heads the European project “MODELAGE” for which she obtained a “Starting Gran” with funding of 1.5 million euros. They model patient data collected for the project to obtain different models, not only for each individual, but also for the different tissues or cells of the same patient.

In this project they study the aging of the heart, but in the BSICoS group, they also study other types of arrhythmias, such as heart attack, ischemia, or heart behaviour of astronauts participating in a special mission, who are at increased risk for arrhythmias or babies with congenital diseases that provide them with an increased risk of having arrhythmias.

Computational modelling necessary to reproduce the experimental and clinical observations and the signal analysis are be developed using the computing platform, Unit 27 of NANBIOSIS.

For further information:

http://alacarta.aragontelevision.es/programas/en-ruta-con-la-ciencia/  Cap 44

Equations that can save thousands of lives
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STAFF III database published at Physionet

The  STAFF III database have  gone public at Physionet! https://physionet.org/physiobank/database/staffiii/

The STAFF III database was acquired during 1995–96 at Charleston Area Medical Center (WV, USA) where single prolonged balloon inflation had been introduced to achieve optimal results of percutaneous transluminal coronary angiography (PTCA) procedures, replacing the typical series of brief inflations. The lead investigator Dr. Stafford Warren designed the study protocol together with Dr. Galen Wagner at Duke University Medical Center (Durham, NC, USA); Dr. Michael Ringborn (Blekinge Hospital, Karlskrona, Sweden) was responsible for data acquisition. The database consists of ECG recordings from 104 patients, accounting for substantial inter-patient variability in reaction to prolonged balloon inflation as well as variability of heart rhythm and waveform morphology. Only patients receiving elective PTCA in one of the major coronary arteries were included. Patients suffering from ventricular tachycardia, undergoing an emergency procedure, or demonstrating signal loss during acquisition, were excluded.

Since its acquisition, the STAFF III Database has been distributed by Prof. Leif Sörnmo (Lund University, Sweden), responsible for the acquisition equipment and software. The use of the STAFF III database has broadened considerably over the years, with importance for several other research problems than high-frequency ECG analysis. Although the original study protocol of the database was designed to address a set of clinical issues, the database has turned out to be highly valuable also for developing, improving, and evaluating a wide range of signal processing techniques. This database has prompted methodological development in many areas related to ischemia, see the review by Laguna and Sörnmo (2014), were the use of high performance computing platforms as NANBIOSYS are used for the analysis.

The database was prepared for PhysioNet by:

STAFF III database published at Physionet
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Computing in Cardiology President’s Newsletter – 2017

Pablo Laguna, Scientific Director of Unit 27 of NANBIOSIS and President of  CinC (2015-2018), presents the details of CinC 2017 in the Computing in Cardiology, which shall be held in Rennes, France, September 24-27

Dear CinC Attendee,

One more year has passed and the time to plan the annual conference has arrived.  To help you with this, I would like to bring you an update on relevant aspects related to CinC-2017, including dates, deadlines and events.  I would also like to update you on initiatives, some just consolidating recent developments, such as the Clinical Needs Translational Award (CTA), the Special Sessions Proposals, and the Mortara Travel Fellowships, together with other well established activities such as the CinC Challenge and the Young Investigator Award (YIA) (see below)

First, the Board of Directors and I wish to express our sincere gratitude to The Local Organising Committee and their team in Vancouver, headed by Dr. Andrew Blaber and Dr. Kouhyar Tavakolian. They put on a very successful conference in September 2016 with a record number of attendees in the American Continent. Our sincere thanks!

I would now like to bring your attention to the following information:

Conference Proceedings
The 2016 Proceedings are now available on line with direct access from the CinC web site http://www.cinc.org/archives/2016/. This year we have arranged to have our personalized doi (digital object identifier) for the proceedings. This identification will be of the form DOI:10.22489/CinC.2016.001-107, where the number 10.22489 is the prefix given to our organization, and the suffix CinC.2016.001-107 refers to our name (CinC), year (2016), and internal reference of each paper at the conference (eg 001-107). The doi will point directly to our CinC web Proceedings repository. The whole process has been finished later than in other years, due to the doi definition process itself, the required tool adaptation and the agenda fitting of the people involved in the elaboration, for which we apologize. Also, the papers will soon be available at the IEEE Xplore Digital Library. We are indebted to our Editor Alan Murray, and the CinC IT team, particularly Sheri Prucka, for all of the effort and hard work they have put into the production of the Proceedings.

CinC 2017: 24-27 September, Rennes, France
As you probably already know, the 2017 meeting will be held in Rennes, France. Rennes is the capital of Brittany, North West France, very well known for its university and cultural dynamism. The conference will be held at the École Supérieure d’Ingénieurs de Rennes (ESIR), campus de Beaulieu, Rennes, https://esir.univ-rennes1.fr. Further details can be found at http://www.cinc2017.org. In particular the Sunday symposium will be devoted to the fields of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) and vagus nerve stimulation.

Joint WG e-Cardiology ESC – CinC: Clinical Needs Translational Award (CTA)
This year, following its successful introduction last year, the CTA will be offered for a second time. Remember that its aim is the promotion and further stimulation of the translational component of CinC attendees’ research, a joint initiative between the Working Group on e-Cardiology of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and CinC. The paper which best addresses current clinical needs will receive the award, consisting of $500 dollars + €500 (funded by CinC and ESC WG e-Cardiology) which will be granted to the research team. To participate, a full 4-page paper must be submitted no later than April 15, 2017. A panel composed of researchers with a clinically oriented profile will assess the submitted papers. The announcement to the winning team will be made at the time of abstract acceptance. One member of the winning team will have to present the paper at the plenary session on the last day of the conference. There is no conflict between the YIA and CTA as the first author can participate in the YIA competition if he or she is eligible as a young researcher and, at the same time be part of a research team entering the CTA. The prize and a diploma to each member of the team will be given at the awards ceremony.

Special Sessions
The Special Sessions initiative will be organized this year for the second time. It is an effort to stimulate the dynamic nature of research, offering conference attendees a window for promoting an emerging research topic. You are therefore invited to propose a special session by submitting the following information:

  • Names, email addresses, affiliations, and short biographies of the organisers who are expected to have a PhD or MD degree and a relevant publication track record in the proposed area.
  • Title of the session.
  • Aim and rationale for the special session.
  • A list of proposed speakers, together forming an oral session with 4 presentations. It should be emphasised that abstracts submitted for a special session will be subject to review just like any other submission.

Proposals should be emailed to the secretary of the CinC Board, Leif Sörnmo, leif.sornmo@bme.lth.se, no later than March 1, 2017. All proposals received will be evaluated by the Board based on the timeliness of the topic, its uniqueness, and the ability to bring together key researchers. The Secretary will notify the proposers about the outcome no later than March 15th.

Rosanna Degani Young Investigator Award (YIA)
Since 1992, this award has been designed to encourage young investigators to present their work at CinC and have it discussed with experts. As an incentive every entrant in the YIA competition receives a 50% reduction in the CinC conference fee. The finalists can present their results in a plenary session and receive valuable cheques. You just need to have excellent results, be eligible for YIA, apply with a 4 page paper before April 15th, and attend CinC conference with a senior co-author.

Mortara FellowshipsIn
For last three CinC conference editions, fellowship support has been provided by Mortara Instrument Inc. When available, these Fellowships take the form of financial awards which allow young presenters to participate in the CinC meeting when travel costs might otherwise limit abstract submission and attendance. The Fellowships are intended to offset up to $2000 of the cost of attending CinC for successful applicants who a) should be 32 years old or younger, b) do not reside in the country of the current year’s conference, c) have previously presented their work at CinC, and d) submit acceptable papers on the topics of ECG or Patient Monitoring, which may include mathematical modelling. Full details can be found on the website, but please note that applications for these fellowships require a full 4-page paper to be submitted by the time of the conference abstract deadline. If awards become available this year, it will be an excellent opportunity for young investigators not to have the distance to Rennes as a barrier for attending CinC 2017.

CinC Challenge
Similar to previous years, there will be an exciting PhysioNet Challenge, organized in co-operation with PhysioNet. The topic of the the PhysioNet/Computing in Cardiology Challenge 2017 will be announced soon at the web page. Those wishing to participate will need to submit an abstract describing their work on the Challenge no later than April 15th, 2017, and must attend the conference to present it. Details on the challenge are expected to become public in early February, at http://www.cinc.org/  and, later in http://physionet.org/challenge/2017/.

CinC 2017 – Abstract Deadline
Please note that the abstract deadline is April 15th, 2017, and remember that all young investigators submitting a 4-page paper by the time of the abstract deadline, and attending the conference with their mentor/supervisor, will receive a 50% discount in registration, even if their paper is not submitted for YIA.

Facebook and Twitter
You can access and follow the CinC profiles via https://www.facebook.com/ComputingInCardiology  and https://twitter.com/CinC_tweets where timely information is distributed about the conference.

Board Membership
An announcement was made at the closing of CinC 2016 that there would be four vacancies on the Board of CinC in September 2017. The Board invited expressions of interest from those who would be willing to work towards the aims of the organisation.  The rest of the current members of the Board, who have not yet completed their 3 periods, each with a 3-year mandate, will most likely remain to provide experience and continuity. If you have attended a good number of previous meetings of CinC, feel you could bring some managerial experience to the Board, and you have not yet done so,    please write to the past president, Peter Macfarlane, Peter.Macfarlane@glasgow.ac.uk, who will coordinate the process and provide you with a form to fill in your data and submit a short statement about your qualifications and skills. Please remember to provide that information no later than April 1st 2017.

See you in Rennes!
I sincerely hope that you are planning to submit an abstract for CinC 2017 so that we can continue to ensure that Computing in Cardiology remains the top conference for those interested in the field. The Board of Directors looks forward to seeing you in Rennes, France, in September 2017.

Pablo Laguna
President

Computing in Cardiology President's Newsletter - 2017
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