IBBME Annual Research Conference 2017 celebrates biomedical engineering research achievements at U of T

On May 10, the Biomedical Engineering Students’ Association (BESA) hosted the 2017 IBBME Annual Research Conference (iARC) in the Bram & Bluma Appel Salon at the Toronto Reference Library.

Co-chaired by PhD students Ben Ouyang and Wilson Poon, this year’s event hosted more than 300 members from the U of T Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) community to attend, present and be recognized for their research achievements in biomedical engineering over the past year.

Keynote speaker Miguel Nicolelis of Duke University (centre, right) with IBBME director Christopher Yip (centre, left) and conference co-chairs Ben Ouyang (right) and Wilson Poon (left).

In alignment with this year’s theme on Pushing Boundaries and Regaining Function, this year’s Edward Llewellyn-Thomas Distinguished Lectures welcomed Dr. Miguel Nicolelis from the Duke University School of Medicine to speak on the topic of neurological sciences and brain machine interfaces while Dr. Todd Kuiken of Northwestern University inspired the audience on his contributions to the area of physical rehabilitation.

The Innovations in Emerging Fields of Research Keynote hosted IBBME professor Penney Gilbert who presented her team’s latest work on muscle skeletal tissues.

Formerly known as Scientific Day, the event was renamed the IBBME Annual Research Conference to more accurately represent the magnitude and impact of this longest-running, U of T student-organized flagship event.

Here are some of the photos captured from the event. A list of poster and podium award winners are also provided below.

STTARR Best Nanotechnology, Molecular Imaging and Systems Biology Poster Award
  • Winner—Christopher McFaul
  • Runner-up—Maneesha Rajora
OCCAM Best Biomaterials, Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Poster Award
  • Winner—Shiva Hamidian Jahromi
  • Runner-up—Mohsen Afshar Bakooshli
Best Engineering in a Clinical Setting Poster Award
  • Winner—Sean Crawford
  • Runner-up—Ahnaf Rashik Hassan
Best Neural, Sensory Systems and Rehabilitation Poster Award
  • Winner—Daniel Vena
  • Runner-up—Firas Farah
NanoMedFab Best Podium Presentation Award
  • Winner—Miles Montgomery
  • Runner-ups (tie)—Yih Yang Chen, Leslie Louvelle

A special presentation was made by capstone design course professor Chris Bouwmeester to recognize PhD candidate Vicki Komisar, this year’s IBBME Teaching Award of Excellence winner!