Innovation technologies in rehabilitation, mental health and human well-being

Description

The Area of Applied Technologies develops innovative diagnostic and therapeutic methods with positive effects within the Neurorehabilitation field, making them available to the other research areas, to the National Health Service and to the whole international scientific community. Within this research area, three laboratories and a research line have been established within the last three years: the Pediatric Neuroimaging Study Center (CeSNE), the Bioengineering Lab, the Robotic Lab and the Health Services Management research line.

The CeSNE, equipped with a 3T MR scanner and several brain coils with a large number of channels, carries out researches on Neuroimaging in the following fields: morphologic MR, to improve the anatomical characterization of diseases; structural MR, to study the composition and organization of the brain parenchyma; functional MR, to investigate the brain functional organization. The same topics are also deepened using a 7T tomograph, thanks to the collaboration with the IMAGO 7 Foundation.

The Bioengineering Lab uses advanced technologies, such as computer science and electronics, to develop innovative medical devices able to monitor patients’ health conditions, to support rehabilitation and daily life assistance and to improve the quality of life of chronic patients. The Bioengineering Lab is also involved in the development and application of mathematical models for biomedical signal processing and supports the analysis and experimentation of data modeling techniques for a better management of patients’ data.

The Robotic Lab, equipped with robotics and virtual reality platforms for pediatric rehabilitation, defines innovative clinical approaches and rehabilitation therapies, based on robotic assistance, mainly focused on upper limb functional recovery and gait rehabilitation; activities include continuous real-time assessment and monitoring of exercise’s performance, helping to investigate the efficacy of rehabilitation therapies.

The Health Services Management research line tackles the development of diagnostic and rehabilitative protocols assessing their effectiveness and efficiency, in terms of outcomes and spent resources. The focus is on the development of IT supported management models, the definition of new models for standard cost determination in rehabilitation, and the analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical and rehabilitative assessment tools and techniques. Outcome indexes for this area are the presence of partnerships with the industrial and no-profit world; the scientific production, including patents filing; the ability to attract resources, and to work in networks.

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