The development of effective biorobotic systems strongly relies on the basic understand of several principles of biology and neuroscience. This is what we call “science-based” biorobotics and represents our foundational approach. The goal of WPs is to establish and provide a unique multi-faceted and interdisciplinary platform which will allow scientists to design, develop, and assess novel and more effective biorobotic systems according to a better understand of fundamental principles and to a thorough characterization of the performance of the systems in different experimental conditions. We are going to establish and potentiate several laboratories with expertise ranging from molecular biology, animal experiments, system neuroscience, clinical sciences, biomedical engineering, information and communication technologies, virtual reality etc.
For this reason, the activities of the WP5 “BioRobotics and Health” will be carried out in 10 labs/facilities, organized in 4 Scientific and Technological Areas. The organization of the Areas/labs is summarised hereafter:
- Cell cultures, organoids and 3R (CELL-Health) Area
- CELLMO Laboratory – Molecular Biology and Cell Models Laboratory
- Animal models (ANI-Health) Area
- NHP-3N Laboratory – Non-Human Primate (NHP) Neurophysiology, Neuroethology and Neuroanatomy Laboratory
- EBC Laboratory –Experimental Biomedicine Centre Laboratory
- “First in humans”, clinical trials, and healthcare system (CLI-Health) Area
- PHYSIO and SLEEP – Cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology Laboratory & Healthcare systems management
- DB-MD Laboratory –Brain Dysfunctions and Movement Disorders LaboratoryTELEMEDICINE Laboratory –Telediagnostic infrastructure for proximity careICAROS Center – Interdepartmental Center for Advances in Robotic Surgery
- ISMI4PM Laboratory – Intelligent Systems and Medical Informatics for Precision Medicine Laboratory
- Healthcare technologies (TECH-Health) Area
- BRIGHT Laboratory – laBel fRee InteGrated pHoTonic
- BBC Laboratory – Breath Biomarkers Chemical identification Laboratory
The laboratories in the areas CELL-Health and ANI-Health will allow to develop more effective devices based on deep understand of basic principles and at the same time it will allow to test these devices (e.g., systems for implantable neuroprosthetics or for regenerative medicine).
The laboratories in the CLI-Health Area will allow to gather information about patients with different pathologies (cardiovascular, neurological, traumatic, respiratory). In order to integrate, process and extract new knowledge from the acquired data and information, Digital Twins (DTs) of pathologies will be constructed. DTs will be considered as individual patients computationally treated to design, simulate and find the optimal strategy for improve patients’ health. Thanks to DTs, also the test of new devices will be performed with these patients in an effective way to improve their overall performance and usability.
The laboratories in the TECH-Health area will allow the researchers to have access to more innovative technologies to gather more precise sensing information, crucial for a more detailed characterization and assessment of the performance of the devices in different experimental conditions.
- CELLMO Laboratory – Molecular Biology and Cell Models Laboratory
Following the idea that machines can help to better understand the functioning of natural mechanisms, the CELLMO lab tries to be at the interface where cell mechanisms relevant to human pathologies can be studied with new eyes. It will be a facility for the genotypic and phenotypic characterization of small animals, organoids and cell models, with state of the art molecular and cellular biology methods.
View devices - EBC Laboratory –Experimental Biomedicine Centre Laboratory
EBC Laboratory is a preclinical large animal study platform established in accordance with the good laboratory practice standards (GLP) to create controllable environments in which the safety and effectiveness of new therapeutics, high-risk medical devices and biomaterials can be evaluated in accordance with the 3R principles of the Directive 2010/63/EU.
View devices - DB-MD Laboratory –Brain Dysfunctions and Movement Disorders Laboratory
The BD-MD lab includes a complete facility for investigating the neural correlates of movements disorders (e.g., Parkinson’s Disease, Dystonia, Tourette’s Syndrome, Essential Tremor, but also post-stroke dysfunctions etc) to the aim of improving rehabilitation and pharmaceutical/electrical stimulation therapy.
View devices - NHP-3N Laboratory – Non-Human Primate (NHP) Neurophysiology, Neuroethology and Neuroanatomy Laboratory
The Nonhuman primate (NHP) neurophysiology, neuroethology and neuroanatomy laboratory at the Università di Parma includes a complete facility for NHP housing and state-of-the-art research equipment for neurophysiological, neuroethological and neuroanatomical preclinical testing, evaluation, and refinement of biorobotics applications.
View devices - BRIGHT Laboratory – laBel fRee InteGrated pHoTonic
BRIGHT lab proposes the development of a multi-purpose integrated photonic lab-on-chip for detection of organic and non-organic contamination in liquids and for biomarkers-based diagnostic/prognostic.
View devices - TELEMEDICINE Laboratory –Telediagnostic infrastructure for proximity care
TELEMEDICINE lab is a facility for advanced ultrasound remote diagnostic enabled by AI and telerobotics. The laboratory will allow the development of methodology for safe and effective remote ultrasound diagnostics.
View devices - PHYSIO and SLEEP – Cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology Laboratory & Healthcare systems management
The Physiology and Sleep Laboratory includes a complete facility for recording and analysis of different physiological signals and for the assessment of the central integration of cardiovascular and respiratory afferents. A special focus will be the study of visceral reflexes and the central control of respiration and the cardiovascular system during sleep
View devices - ISMI4PM Laboratory – Intelligent Systems and Medical Informatics for Precision Medicine Laboratory
The ISMI4PM lab includes a complete facility for designing, developing and testing bioinformatics pipelines for genomic data analysis in order to extract biomarkers able to predict prognostic and therapy outcomes due to pathological conditions; such pipelines would allow the processing of sequenced data coming from multiple services.
View devices - BBC Laboratory – Breath Biomarkers Chemical identification Laboratory
The BBC lab includes a complete facility for the chemical analysis of human breath samples in order to first identify the biomarkers involved in the investigated pathologies and subsequently become a platform for clinical trials and mass screening involving these pathologies.
View devices - ICAROS Center – Interdepartmental Center for Advances in Robotic Surgery
The ICAROS laboratory includes a complete facility for surgical robotics, training for surgery and healthcare assistance.
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