Brain tract prototyping for clinical practice
„This will definitely be used in the future,” says Íris to mbl.is. “The project is a continuation of a previous project within the School of Science and Engineering at RU, where the skull is rapidly prototyped with a tumor to help surgeons prepare for surgery”. Íris is undertaking her work at the Biomedical Center which was created in November through a collaboration of Reykjavik University and Landspítali University Hospital. The idea for this study started with a collaboration with Paolo Gargiulo, Assistant Professor from the School of Science and Engineering and Ingvar Hákon Ólafsson, a Neurosurgeon at Landspítali.
“I am mapping brain tracts in patients with a tumor. By rapidly prototyping these tracts, neurosurgeons can have a model of their patient and practice the actual surgery beforehand,” Íris said. She explains that this shortens the operation time and lowers the actual cost of the surgery, leading to increased patient safety.
“This work is accurate and gives proper results. Iceland is the only country that we know of which uses rapid prototyping in clinical practice. Iris will, as a master student in biomedical engineering, further develop the technology over the next two years and try it on other patient groups.
An informative lecture
On the 1st of September, Dr. Mark Holmes, one of the foremost scientists in neurology in the world today, held a lecture at Reykjavik University. Holmes has over the past 20 years studied neuroscience and developed a technique to stimulate brain activity. “This was really an informative lecture. It is interesting to see what others are working with,” Íris said. “This evokes ideas of what is possible to achieve in the future and how it is possible to help in this field.”
Reykjavik University celebrates 50 years since the founding of the Technical University of Iceland, which merged with RU 2005. A series of Open lecture are being held at RU, where researchers discuss their research in technology, business and law as part of the celebrations.
