Research Students in Antwerp
At the end of November, a group of PhD researchers from the Division of Mechanical Engineering & Mechatronics attended the 4th Europan Congress of the International Federation of Medical & Biological Engineering, held in Antwerp, Belgium.
This conference is amongst the largest of its type in the world with around 600 research papers being presented over the event's duration. For these students it was a first opportunity to not only gain exposure to cutting edge biomedical engineering advances from around the world but also to present their personal research to a knowledgeable international audience.
The conference took part at the Flanders Conference and Concert Centre on the outskirts of Antwerp city centre. This is a major conference centre with a main hall housing some 2000 people and a large number of other rooms for housing parallel research tracks.
Research students Richard Rothwell, Anila KesavaKumarKala, Jan Vorstius and Ruth Mackay all presented their most recent work at the conference.
Richard Rothwell presented his paper, "Stent Design to Prevent Gastointestinal Leakage". This work was very warmly recieved and Richard would be awarded the Diploma of the International Federation for Medical and Biomedical Engineering later in the conference for his work.
While important work was done during the conference, there was still a chance to see some of the city. The conference centre is owned by, and adjoins Antwerp zoo. Often the only way between different conference rooms was via the monkey house or, as in this case, the flamingo pool.
Antwerp is an attractive city and, with the conference over, there was a chance to see some of its attractions, including the old city centre, the white castle and the diamond museum.
In total the group, including lecturer Dr Gareth Thomson, presented seven papers at the conference:
- Stent design for gastrointestinal leakage, Richard Rothwell, Gareth Thomson, Mark Pridham
- Micro-gripping of small scale tissues, Ruth Mackay & Huirong Le
- A smart ultrasonic cutting system for surgery, Anila KesavaKumarKala, Alan Slade, Zhihong Huang, Victor Fernandez
- Soluble gas tight capsules for use in surgical quality testing, Jan Vorstius, Gareth Thomson, Alan Slade
- Optimization of Ultrasonic Tool Performance in Surgery, Y. Qiu, Zhihong Huang, Alan Slade, Gareth Thomson
- Formed 3D Bio-scaffolds via rapid prototyping technology, Paul Maher, Robert Keatch, Kenneth Donnelly, Jennifer Paxton
- The effect of laser characteristics in laser generated guided waves in layered-skin models, Adele L'Etang & Zhihong Huang
The venture was considered highly successful, with all students being pleased to gain exposure to the wider research community, while Richard's award came as an added bonus.
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