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Activity Funded

Institute of

Instituto de Biofísica e Engenharia Biomédica

Reference
UIDB/00645/2020
Project Start Date
2020-01-01
Project End Date
2024-12-31
Principal Investigator
Funding Program
Concurso de avaliação no âmbito do Programa Plurianual de Financiamento de Unidades de I&D (2017/2018) - Financiamento Base

Abstract

10.2 Summary in English for general dissemination purposes The Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering (Instituto de Biofísica e Engenharia Biomédica=IBEB) is a research centre affiliated with the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon. IBEB was founded in 1992 and had a pioneer role in research and post-graduate teaching in Biomedical Engineering in Portugal. To this day, it remains the only research centre in the Lisbon area exclusively devoted to this scientific field. During the period 2018-2022, IBEB proposes to follow-up on a tradition of giving emphasis to research lines centred on the development, consolidation and clinical translation of solutions, methods and models with a potential impact in diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, with a special focus on brain and breast. This ambition will entail an investment in specific research lines and topics, among which a few can be cited as examples: the development of a capacity for the efficient generation of realistic, subject-specific models of brain anatomy, in view of an optimisation of non-invasive stimulation protocols; the exploration of the association between brain connectivity and artificial intelligence algorithms, as a tool to improve the accuracy of the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases; the development of the first prototype at a worldwide level for microwave imaging of the axillary lymph nodes, with application to breast cancer diagnosis; the use of nanoparticles for laser-mediated release of drugs, with a potential for cancer therapy, especially melanoma. Bringing these goals to fruition will entail exploring and expanding the core know-how accumulated throughout the years. This will be done by promoting synergies and cross-breeding between already existing research lines, recruiting additional researchers, strengthening already existing collaborations with world renown institutions and starting new ones. The acquisition of new equipment will increase autonomy in data collection, and hence the potential to explore scientific hypotheses that are relevant for the centre's activity plan. IBEB will continue to make a point to remain open to the community, through connections to the industry, outreach actions and availability to help with programs having societal relevance. IBEB will also keep providing scientific and logistic support to national and international undergraduate and graduate programmes in Biomedical Engineering and in particular at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon. 10.3 Summary in English for evaluation During the period of 2018-2022, IBEB will strive to build upon existing know-how, to promote fruitful interactions between existing lines of research, to foster new collaborations, to expand its capabilities for data collection and computational analysis and ultimately to maximise the potential impact of its research in terms of knowledge created and made available to the community, commercial impact, clinical translation and societal benefits. IBEB will remain coherent with a history that has given emphasis to methodological research on signal and image processing with applications to the study of brain function, diagnosis of central nervous system pathologies and breast cancer, and radiation and magnetic and electric stimulation mediated therapy. However, IBEB firmly commits to foster an interaction between existing lines of research, to maximise the impact of its research in key clinical areas, and to strike a sensible balance between generating knowledge and acting as a solution provider for clinical, academia and industry partners. IBEB will continue to invest heavily in brain-related research. The focus will be on harnessing knowledge about how the brain functions, notably derived from functional and structural connectivity studies, and translate it into diagnosis tools based on artificial intelligence algorithms, possibly with additional information from genomics. This is the main goal of an existing project which will keep concentrating a significant portion of IBEB's efforts in the forthcoming years. Another crucial topic will be increasing the potential to generate subject-specific models of the human brain surface that willbe amenable to be used both as an aid to non-invasive stimulation and as the basis for the study of stimulation-induced modulations in connectivity, using both computational simulations of neural activity and experimental studies. This is a very popular and promising topic for which IBEB is especially well equipped due to extensive experience in brain connectivity methodology and brain anatomical modeling for purposes of stimulation. Cancer-related therapy and imaging will also be a major research topic where the cross-breeding of ongoing research lines and the opening of new research avenues will be required. The activity plan proposes an investment in dosimetry-related studies, feasibility approaches (e.g. the use of tomosynthesis as a complement of traditional mammography), new therapy approaches (laser-mediated drug delivery using nanoparticles, ion therapy, or tumor treating magnetic fields), in functional imaging for preoperative mapping of the brain to aid tumor resection, and in the study of cancer-induced metabolic and behaviour related changes using multimodality data. IBEB has also established the goal of building the first prototype at the worldwide level for microwave imaging of axillary lymph nodes, which would be the culmination of several years of research in the area of breast cancer imaging using microwave radiation. The pursuit of these goals, and the unifying goal of establishing IBEB as a reference in the national and world-wide arenas as a provider of knowledge-based solutions for biomedical application, will require growth, commensurable with logistic limitations, in terms of human resources and equipment. IBEB's activity plan contemplates the purchase of a 64-channel EEG system. This equipment will be a key asset in order to promote a fruitful interaction between ongoing and foreseeable research efforts involving the development and validation of methods for the study of brain connectivity, the generation of realistic models to study stimulation-induced changes in connectivity, and the application of these methods (e.g. to the development of clinically useful classifiers, to new strategies for stimulation-induced therapy approaches or to the definition of connectivity-based alternatives to traditional metrics used in Brain-Computer Interfaces). The activity plan also contemplates the refurbishing of existing facilities into an EEG lab as well as the use of stimulation equipment (tDCS) already in place. Another key strategic point is the purchase of equipment with a view to building a prototype for microwave imaging of the axillary nodes. This will be a crucial step towards reinforcing IBEB's leading role not only on new diagnosis approaches for breast cancer diagnosis but on the use of bioelectric phenomena for biomedical applications. These devices, along with others detailed elsewhere on this document, are meant to enhance IBEB's capabilities to acquire data and to generate and test relevant hypotheses, thereby becoming less dependent on collaborations for the pursuit of its goals. However, this intention is fully compatible with the wish to consolidate existing collaborations and to establish new ones, in order to achieve critical mass and multidisciplinary capacity. IBEB also commits to increase its manpower in order to complement existing know-how and to accelerate efforts towards the achievement of its goals. This commitment will translate into the recruitment of PhD students and postdoctoral researchers, thereby contributing to the ongoing nation-wide effort of harnessing the skills and competence of a generation of highly trained researchers. Additionally, IBEB is keen to open up to the overall community, through links with the industry, outreach actions and availability to help with programmes having societal relevance. IBEB will also keep providing scientific and logistic support to national and international undergraduate and graduate programs in Biomedical Engineering and in particular at the Faculty of Sciences. The interaction between research and teaching has been a hallmark of IBEB since its beginning, and shall continue to be so. We believe that this is mandatory in order to pursue our goals of excellence and to provide high-quality training for the Biomedical Engineering community.

Institutions

Main Institutions

  • Universidade de Lisboa Instituto de Biofísica e Engenharia Biomédica (IBEB)
  • FCiênciasID Associação para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento de Ciências (Fciências.ID)

Funding 271.875,00 €

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - Portugal

271.875,00 €