Tech Talks Central

Prof. Athanasios Kakarountas combines his deep knowledge of informatics & computing with marketing techniques in order to design and produce marketable products, useful for everyday assisted living. Starting from his commercialised projects, including a pillow with sensors and an insulin injecting automated system, he talks about his new project which aims to assist elderly by making slight design changes to known household devices that can bring technology to their life in a non-invasive way. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks Central.

Dr. Georgia Chalvatzaki tells us about MOBOT; an ambitious European FP7 project still in evaluation stage, that uses an intelligent robotic walker to assist elderly or reduced mobility people get up from a chair and walk around, during their daily life. It is an easy to use, yet highly sophisticated and self-learning system that gradually recognizes the habits of its user and helps him (or her) overcome most difficulties. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.

Mr. Ioannis Tamposis is a healthcare IT expert working for OraSys that offers innovative healthcare services. They have developed a platform for managing medical imaging workflows in an enterprise level which can be integrated among all radiology equipment and applications. OraSys is also involved in the HPV Guard Project, a decision support system based on advanced clinical theranostics protocols for the cost-effective, personalised management of HPV related disease. Interviewed by Venetia I. Kyritsi for Tech Talks Central.

Professor Gianlucca Lazzi opens the conversation with the renowned ‘bionic eye’, an artificial retina to restore vision to the blind. With over 20 years experience in biolelectromagnetics for implantable devices he mentions his research in hippocampus implants and neurostimulators in general; the role they play in health and how these can affect human lives in the future. In an effort to simplify advancements in sensor technology he explains what liquid metal sensors are and their possible advantages. He goes on to foresee the future in implantable devices and restoring senses to patients. Interviewed by Vicki Kolovou for Tech Talks central.

Professors Anton Amman and Agapios Agapiou speak about their effort to use breath and sweat of humans as an innovative tool for targeted clinical diagnostics – kind of an odour-CSI...Their ambitious goal is to develop a personalized mobile telemedicine application that could recognise, using special and elaborate sensors, volatiles (which is quite a feat, as we may easily pinpoint only a handful of them) and alert people if something is not as it should be... Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.

Denmark’s first professor in Welfare Design, Dr. Andrea Corradini, explains the groundbreaking five year collaboration between Kolding School of Design and Lillebaelt Hospital in Denmark. His work to realize the ‘social ‘experiment’ focuses on how calculated applications of design (eg. adjustable lighting at the nurses station) and not across the board spending cuts, actually save money, increase productivity, quality of services, patient care, and efficiency. The professor tells us the project originates from the perception of ‘welfare’ as a predominant social goal in Denmark, in direct contradiction to other western societies. Dr. Corradini mentions successes thus far and future obstacles he anticipates. He highlights ‘human factor’ as the determining element for this project to succeed or fail. He explains the need to develop a feasible approach to facilitate healthcare professionals to shift perspectives and adjust to an alternative, sometimes radical, point of view. Interviewed by Venetia I. Kyritsi for Tech Talks Central.

Dr. Venet Osmani gives us a frank insight into bipolar disorder, a serious and in most cases deadly mental disorder of unknown cause, and proposes an “early warning system” based on a mobile application. Early stage patients have to report their status and answer the app questionnaires, while results are being considered by doctors and specialized staff in an effort to further explore this grave disease. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.

Dr. Venet Osmani gives us a frank insight into bipolar disorder, a serious and in most cases deadly mental disorder of unknown cause, and proposes an “early warning system” based on a mobile application. Early stage patients have to report their status and answer the app questionnaires, while results are being considered by doctors and specialized staff in an effort to further explore this grave disease. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.

The highlight of Prof. Baras’ interview is that “if the 20th century was the century of ICT, then the 21st century surely is the century of Medicine”! Being a technology- Renaissance man himself, he believes that the next frontier is disease modelling (like diabetes or Alzheimer); he and his team give answers on a broad spectrum of applied technology issues focusing on revolutionary micro-energy harvesters that exploit the value-added of human body movements to power sensors and many other mobile devices, in the future. Interviewed by Yannis Rizopoulos for Tech Talks Central.

Dr. Kunal Mankodiya explains his focus on creating “a wearable platform” to collect contextual data (rather than continuously record information) in real time, combining wearable sensors and smart devices. He talks about creating intelligent algorithms to process and store only relevant data. Dr. Kunal Mankodiya presents his SPARK- wearable sensor and smartwatch project currently in clinical trials with Parkinson’s patients. He also introduces us to parallel projects and his collaboration with Dr.Neil Ryan psychiatrist at the University of Pittsburgh, to develop a neuroelectronic system that leverages functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) a noninvasive cerebral oximetry monitor to map brain activity. His goal is to diagnose patterns of emotions and ultimately the understanding of mental illness. Dr. Mankodiya contemplates the possibilities of intervention in neurodegenerative diseases through wearable sensors. Spoiler Alert: he also hints at developing inertia sensors in women’s high heel shoes, to create a balancing effect, counteract and alleviate pain. Interviewed by Venetia I. Kyritsi for Tech Talks Central.