Organized by the Campus Bio-Medico of Rome in collaboration with the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna of Pisa and the Polytechnic of Milan, it will be. In Bressanone, from 26 to 29 September, the series of conferences entitled “Bioengineering for well-being and active aging” was held, with a scientific program curated and shared by Eugenio Guglielmelli, Vice-Rector for Research and Professor of Bioengineering UCBM, Maria Chiara Carrozza, Professor of Bioengineering at SSSA, and Riccardo Pietrabissa, President of the National Bioengineering Group and Professor of the Polytechnic University of Milan.
From 26 to 29 September in Bressanone to coordinate the scientific program, in collaboration with the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna of Pisa and the Politecnico di Milano
It was the Rector UCBM, Andrea Onetti Muda, to open the school's work, reconstructing the impact of technological innovation on the evolution of medicine over the last 200 years. An intervention in which Onetti Muda wanted to highlight how much this innovation was favored by the "human factor", that set of ideals, aspirations, memories and experiences that characterizes the protagonists of every technological process. In this sense, "the university - concluded the Rector - must also and above all work on the hidden curriculum, on the integral education of students, in an attempt to bring out and express the best potential of each one, to give full development to that factor human being who is always crucial and decisive in all great turning points."
Professor Guglielmelli was responsible for entering into the specifics of the university's research dimension, illustrating the technologies for robot-assisted rehabilitation and reporting, among the various case studies, the results achieved through the European project MAAT and the PPR2 project. The MAAT study led to the creation of a robotic arm to assist the therapist in post-stroke rehabilitation, aiming at active patient involvement and continuous monitoring of motor and functional recovery. With PPR2, the collaboration between UCBM and INAIL in the creation of upper limb prostheses that have a shape and function as similar as possible to those of natural limbs.
A week full of relationships, in which the role of researchers was not lacking. Eleonora Tamilia, alumna UCBM, received the Mazzoldi Prize for his experimental doctoral thesis on the oral-motor behavior of newborns. Work conducted at the Biomedical Robotics and Biomicrosystems Research Unit, under the supervision of the researcher Fabrizio Taffoni, and recognized as excellent for the novelty proposed. The goal was to create a hardware and software system to measure the development of feeding skills in newborns. To this end, a sensor was designed that can be applied to any baby bottle to measure how newborns coordinate their oral activities to express milk. A result which, in addition to being used for research purposes, provides important clinical implications. In fact, many premature or underweight newborns have feeding difficulties which lead to early introduction of feeding through the bottle. A process not free from risks that can be avoided through the application designed to support the doctor's assessments. The professor also spoke on the topic Flavio Keller, Professor of Physiology UCBM, with an analysis of how these innovations can allow us to study the child's perception-action loop during development.
Overall, the school analyzed the impact of age-related chronic pathologies on the quality of life of the elderly and the possible contributions of bioengineering for the conception of new methods and tools for prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of the disabling effects of these pathologies, as well as the different solutions to support independent life. A set of topics on which UCBM is strongly engaged with its research, training and welfare activities.
