Topics

Abstract Topics of Interest include:

• Radiotherapy

Brachytherapy; Dosimetry; Quality assurance; Radiobiology; Treatment planning; New techniques; Clinical trials

• Radiology

CT; Diagnostic reference levels; Interventional; Mammography; Paediatric

• Nuclear Medicine

Imaging/PET; Therapy; Hybrid techniques

• Health Physics

Radiation Protection; Regulation and Codes of Practice; Education

• Clinical Engineering

Clinical Information Technology; Education/Certification/Registration (Students' eye view); Internships/Graduate Year; BTS cadetship; Radiation Engineering; Biomedical Engineers supporting the 3^rd world

• Medical Engineering & Instrumentation

Biomedical Signal Processing; Imaging and imaging processing; Bio-Instrumentation including Bionics; Cardiovascular and respiration; Respiratory & Anaesthesia

• Bioengineering

Neuroengineering; Computational Biology; Pathology Engineering; Bioinformatics; Molecular and cellular biomechanics

• Rehabilitation Engineering

Appropriate Devices for 3^rd world; Human Factors; Emerging technologies; Biomechanics

Preliminary Programme

Click here to view the preliminary Conference program

Speakers

Distinguished guest and confirmed opening plenary speaker:

• Joseph Rizzo, M.D. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary

The EPSM-ABEC 2010 Conference Committee are happy to announce the following confirmed speakers:

• Michael Brada, The Royal Marsden Hospital Institute of Cancer Research, United Kingdom
• Paul C Shrimpton, Medical Dosimetry Group Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards Health Protection Agency Chilton, Didcot Oxon, United Kingdom
• Anthony Arnold, Chief Radiation Therapist SESIAHS - SHN Cancer Services, Illawarra Cancer Care Centre, Wollongong Hospital Private, New South Wales, Australia
• Rodney Hicks, MB BS (Hons), MD, FRACP, Departments of Medicine and Radiology, the University of Melbourne Director, Centre for Molecular Imaging Co-Chair, Translational Research Group The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Rob Lewis, Director, Monash Centre for Synchrotron Science, Monash University, Victoria, Australia
• Bruce Gardiner, Engineering Computational Biology Group, The University of Western Australia
• Nigel Lovell, Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, University of New South Wales, Australia
• Anthony Burkitt, Director of Bionic Vision Australia, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
• Kwan-Hoong Ng, Department of Biomedical Imaging University of Malaya, Malaysia
• Paul Keall, Stanford University
• Prof Stine Korreman, Department of Radiation Oncology, The Finsen Centre, Rigshospitalet, Denmark
• Prof Karen Reynolds

Anthony Arnold

Anthony is the Chief Radiation Therapist for the SESIAHS South Coast Cancer Network, Illawarra Cancer Care Centre (ICCC). Anthony has been lead and co-author on numerous national and international publications in radiation oncology. Anthony is a current member of the A.I.R. Radiation Therapy Advisory Panel (RTAP) and Tri-partite group and in recent times has been driving the development of a national incident reporting framework within radiation oncology. Anthony has a strong quality focus around incident reporting, oncology information systems and service development in the rural / regional sectors throughout Australia.

Michael Brada

Professor of Clinical Oncology, The Institute of Cancer Research
Consultant in Clinical Oncology, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust London, UK.
Professor Brada trained in general medicine, haematology and subsequently in radiotherapy and oncology at the Royal Marsden Hospital. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists and the Royal College of Physicians.

He combines a busy clinical practice in brain tumours and lung cancer with a thriving academic neuro-oncology and lung cancer research. He is leading a group evaluating new treatments, including new drugs, biological therapy and new radiation therapy techniques. He was the first to develop with the physics and radiotherapy departments, fractionated stereotactic conformal radiotherapy for tumours of the central nervous system. This has been implemented in a range for benign intracranial tumours and resulted in benchmark publications in the technical developments and early results of phase II studies. Interest in benign brain tumours also led to benchmark studies of late toxicity of cranial radiotherapy.

Recently research extended to modern radiotherapy techniques in lung cancer. He leads a research group developing, implementing and evaluating new treatment techniques particularly dealing with the problem of target motion. He also has an unrivaled track record in improving methods of care and follow-up of cancer patients, resulting in changes to clinical practice.
His interest in innovation has led to evaluation of novel technologies in clinical setting through systematic reviews and meta-analyses, which has not infrequently generated heated debates between established practitioners and independent researches.
As an acknowledged national and international expert he served as the President of the European Association of Neuro-oncology (EANO), Chairman of the NCRI Brain Tumour Clinical Studies Group and as the President of The European Society of Therapeutic Radiation Oncology (ESTRO), a leading position in European radiotherapy. He has been elected an honorary member of a number of international radiation oncology societies.

Professor Brada is a national and international expert in clinical oncology. He has authored or coauthored more than 250 peer-reviewed articles, editorials, and book chapters and countless abstracts and invited lectures at national and international conferences and meetings.

Anthony Burkitt

Professor Anthony N. Burkitt, Chair of Bio-Signals and Bio-Systems and Director of Bionic Vision Australia, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Melbourne

Prof. Burkitt heads the Neuro-Engineering group in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Melbourne and is the Director of Bionic Vision Australia.

Prof. Burkitt's research is in the area of neuro-engineering and he has worked in cochlear implant speech processing and computational auditory neuroscience for over a decade. This work has involved the investigation of various mechanisms of information processing specialised to the auditory system and associated with speech perception. He has published papers on physiological neural processing mechanisms associated with speech that involve specialised networks within the auditory brainstem. This research has been instrumental in his development of new cochlear implant speech processing strategies that have been patented and currently undergoing pilot clinical trials. His recent research interests have involved extending these concepts from the auditory system to the visual system in order to develop visual stimulation paradigms for retinal implants.

Prof. Burkitt's research in neural modelling of biological systems has had an impact upon the development and understanding of neural models of information processing, i.e., how information is encoded, transmitted and decoded within neural systems. In addition, he has carried out work on understanding the neural basis of epileptic seizures and developing methods for detecting and predicting seizures. He is currently also involved in research to use electrical stimulation for seizure abatement in epilepsy.

Bruce Gardiner

Bruce is a Research Associate Professor in Engineering Computational Biology Group of the Faculty of Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Western Australia. He has a B.Sc. (Physics, 1994) and a Ph.D. (Chemical Engineering, 1999) and working together with clinicians, biologists, biochemists and physiologists, has spent the past seven years developing computational models of a wide range of biological systems that couple continuum and discrete mechanics, molecular transport and cell-cell communication. Currently he is a CI on the following nationally competitive research funded projects: nutrient transport and mechanosignal transduction in cartilage homeostasis and disease (ARC), oxygen regulation in the mammalian kidney (NHMRC), intracellular signaling (systems biology) in colon cancer (NHMRC), intercellular communication in prostate cancer to bone metastasis (PCFA), and fluid-tissue interaction and tissue remodeling following glaucoma surgery (NHMRC). Bruce has over 50 refereed research publications.

Rodney Hicks

Rod Hicks is a Professor of Medicine and Radiology at the University of Melbourne and Director of the Centre for Molecular Imaging at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, Australia. He obtained his primary medical qualification at Monash University in 1982, Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians in 1991 and Doctor of Medicine from the University of Melbourne in 1999. He also underwent post-graduate training in nuclear medicine at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, USA. The Centre for Molecular Imaging at Peter Mac installed the first PET/CT outside Europe and North America in December 2001 and now has an experience of over 40,000 PET studies performed in the facility since it was established in 1996. Professor Hicks' group established the first small animal PET imaging facility in Australia in 2002 and now operates 2 small animal scanners with a strong focus on translational research and drug development. His group is also involved in the Commonwealth of Australian-funded Collaborative Research Centre for Biomedical Imaging Development as a core partner. Professor Hicks is the radiopharmaceutical stream leader. He holds numerous national and international research grants and has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and more than 10 books chapters. A major focus of his clinical research has been to assess the impact of PET on patient management and prognostic stratification. In addition, he is actively involved in radionuclide therapy with a major focus on neuroendocrine tumours. His group pioneered the use of radionuclide therapy in combination with radiosensitising chemotherapy and he has more than 13 years experience in treating advanced NET. He is a Nuclear Medicine Section Editor of Cancer Imaging, and an editorial board member of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Cancer Biotherapy and Radiopharmaceuticals and Leukemia and Lymphoma. He serves on the International Advisory Board of the Biomedical Imaging and Intervention Journal. He has also served on expert panels for the International Atomic Energy Association and is the inaugural Chair of the Clinical Advisory Panel to the Australian Synchrotron. He is married with 4 children and his interests include history, gardening, music and art. His recreational pursuits include distance running and watching his youngest son play cricket and Australian Rules Football!

Rob Lewis

Prof. Lewis is the Director of the Monash Centre for Synchrotron Science and foundation chair of X-ray Synchrotron Physics at Monash University. He has formal training in both physics and medical sciences and has 25 years experience in using synchrotrons for biomedical applications. He is internationally recognised for his work in the medical applications of synchrotrons and advanced X-ray detector design having published more than 130 articles. He is the stream leader of the detector development stream of the Cooperative Research Centre for Biomedical Imaging Development, a cooperative venture involving universities, hospitals, industry and government laboratories.

His current research areas involve the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic techniques mainly based around the use of synchrotrons.

Specific projects include:

• The use of phase contrast X-ray imaging for the dynamic imaging of the first breaths after birth in small animals
• High resolution tracking of cell migration in the body using nano-particle based contrast agents
• Investigation of the efficacy of microbeam radiotherapy, a synchrotron based therapeutic modality well tolerated by normal tissue at extremely high dose.
• Translation of phase contrast X-ray imaging into the clinic
• Development of energy resolving hybrid pixel detectors for radiography, CT, and nuclear emission imaging

Nigel Lovell

Nigel Lovell received the B.E. (Hons) and Ph.D. degrees from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia. He is currently Professor of Biomedical Engineering with the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, UNSW and holds an Adjunct Professorship in the School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW. He has authored 300+ refereed journals, conference proceedings, book chapters and patents, and been awarded over $67 million in R&D and infrastructure funding. His research work has covered areas of expertise ranging from cardiac modeling, telehealth technologies, biological signal processing, and visual prosthesis design.

Paul C Shrimpton

Paul Shrimpton has been closely involved for more than 30 years in the development and promotion of patient dosimetry and protection in diagnostic radiology, both nationally and internationally, whilst working as a medical physicist at the UK Health Protection Agency (and its forerunner the National Radiological Protection Board). He has been instrumental in the periodic performance of UK national patient dose surveys and the formulation of reference doses for x-ray and CT examinations. He has also participated actively in expert groups on aspects of medical exposures convened, for example, by the European Commission, UNSCEAR, ICRP, IAEA and WHO.

Kwan-Hoong Ng

Dr. Ng is a Senior Professor at the Department of Biomedical Imaging and a Senior Consultant of the University of Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He received his M.Sc. (Medical Physics) from University of Aberdeen and Ph.D. (Medical Physics) from University of Malaya, Malaysia. He is also board certified by the American Board of Medical Physics.
He has authored/coauthored over 130 papers in peer-reviewed journals and 13 book chapters. He has presented over 370 scientific papers, more than 200 are invited lectures. He has also organized and directed numerous workshops on radiology quality assurance, digital imaging and scientific writing.

He is the co-founder and co-editor of the open-access e-journal 'biomedical imaging and intervention journal' (www.biij.org). He is in the editorial board and advisory board of the following journals: British Journal of Radiology, Journal of Australasian Physical & Engineering Sciences in Medicine, Medical Physics, Physics in Medicine and Biology, The Internet Journal of Medical Simulation and Technology, Singapore Medical Journal, Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology, World Journal of Radiology. He is also a reviewer for more than thirteen international journals.

His main research contribution has been in the biophysical characterization of breast diseases and developing computer methods as tools to improve diagnostic capability of mammography. He has also been directing research initiatives in digital imaging, interventional radiology and radiation dosimetry.

He has served as an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expert and a member of International Advisory Committee of the World Health Organization. He is the Founding President of the South East Asian Federation of Medical Physics. He is currently the President of the Asia-Oceania Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics.

Prof Karen Reynolds

Karen Reynolds received an MA and an MSc from the University of Oxford, and a PhD from the University of Leicester in the UK. In 1997 she moved to South Australia, and is currently Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Flinders University. Her research focusses on Medical Instrumentation, Simulation for Medical Training, and Imaging and Modelling in Biomechanics.

Karen is the Leader of Flinders Medical Devices and Technologies, and the Director of the Medical Device Partnering Program - a collaboration between South Australian researchers, end-users and commercial partners in the design and development of new medical device products. In 2010, Karen was named as South Australia's Professional Engineer of the Year

Joseph Rizzo

Title: "The Development of the Boston Retinal Prosthesis: What is the Potential for a Visual Prosthetic Device to Restore Vision to the Blind ?

Abstract: In the late 1980s, the Boston Retinal Implant Project was formed as one of the first two projects of this type. Our group has developed a wireless, hermetic, implantable device with "back telemetry" that is designed for implantation into the sub-retinal space. Our group also has been developing technologies to enable the use of hundreds of electrodes, each of which could be individually controlled, in the hope that such a device would yield vision that would improve the quality of life for severely blind patients. Several other groups have already reported very promising results from their human trials. The question of what ultimate level of vision might be attainable with devices of this type will be discussed.

Programme Highlights

Media Panel - Confirmed!
What makes science newsworthy? What do the media expect of scientists and science organisations? In this one-hour session, a panel of working journalists from print, radio and TV will discuss what they and their audiences are looking for in their stories. Find out how journalists work, their deadlines, background and science training.

The session will be moderated by Niall Byrne from Science in Public.

Additional Speaker
Professor David Thwaites, head of radiotherapy physics at St James's University Hospital, Leeds, has recently joined the list of invited speakers. He will present on the assessment of IGRT systems, VMAT, and his experience with the Elekta 160 leaf MLC.

New Sessions
The organising committee has asked Dr Matthew Williams from the Illawarra Cancer Care Centre to review the properties of EBT2 radiochromic film and lead a session which will include contributed papers and a discussion from the floor. How accurately can you measure dose, both absolute and relative? What steps do you need to take? What do you look out for? Come and share your experiences.

Diagnostic Imaging
Australia now requires imaging doses to be assessed against Diagnostic Reference Levels (DRLs). But what levels should we use and how do we derive them? Dr Paul Shrimpton from the HPA will share his experience of the UK DRLs which have been in use for almost 20 years. Professor Kwan-Hoong Ng is a Senior Professor at the Department of Biomedical Imaging and a Senior Consultant of the University of Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur and is certified by the American Board of Medical Physics. His main research contribution has been in the biophysical characterization of breast diseases and developing computer methods as tools to improve diagnostic capability of mammography. He has also been directing research initiatives in digital imaging, interventional radiology and radiation dosimetry, and his invited talk will be on digital mammography. Professor Ng is currently the President of the Asia-Oceania Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics, and a session will be devoted to medical physics in the region.

Imaging is becoming more important in radiotherapy. Come along to the clinical trials focus session where there will be a discussion of the credentialing of imaging techniques. How do we assess image quality for a clinical trial?

There will be a review of deterministic effects in diagnostic procedures. Recent cases in the US proved that it's not just radiotherapy that's capable of causing hair loss, but CT scanners can do it too. Other focus topics include compliance testing, digital mammography, and paediatric imaging, as well as a meeting for the new 'DIMP' trainees.

Radiotherapy Medical Physics
Guest speaker Professor Michael Brada from the Royal Marsden Hospital will talk on "A paradigm for the adoption of new technology". How do you choose new equipment in a methodical and scientific way? How do you assess the effect of the technology, and whether it was worthwhile? Michael will share his experience with some emerging technologies including Gammaknife, Tomotherapy and 4D techniques based on his experience at the Marsden. In another presentation, he will discuss 4D lung treatments at the Marsden.

We have been lucky enough to have Professor Stine Korreman join us for the first two days of the conference. Professor Korreman will talk about Volumetric Arc Therapy, and issues which arise when comparing techniques and promoting technologies. She is also experienced in 4D techniques, IGRT and individualized dose prescription and dose painting techniques. Professor Korreman is the invited speaker at the IGRT Summer School which will take place on the Friday and Saturday before the conference.
Dr Paul Keall, currently at Stanford, will be returning to Australia in 2010 to take up a position at Sydney University. Dr Keall will present on integrated MRI-radiotherapy systems.

There will be a clinical trials focus session. Hear the latest from the trials with strong physics input (such as those concerning hypo-fractionation in prostate and lung treatments) as well as the results of credentialing and audit processes.

Other focus sessions will include: Incident reporting, radiochromic film dosimetry, and an update on the medical beam line at the Australian synchrotron, as well as all the submitted papers and posters.

Nuclear Medicine
The annual Nuclear Medicine Workshop will be held during the conference. Day registrations will be available for participants wishing to attend only the workshop.

We now have the ability to approach the administration of therapeutic radionuclides in a non-empirical manner. Professor Rod Hicks will pose the question, "Radionuclide therapy: Enlightened empiricism or informed planning? How can physics help?" Other sessions will focus on new hybrid imaging modalities, dose measurements, and quality assurance.

Neural Bionics
The conference opening plenary session is devoted to the new era of Neural Bionics by Professor Joseph Rizzo from the Veterans M.D. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. Professor Rizzo will present current research and development of a retinal prosthesis to restore vision to blind patients.
The Neural Bionics theme will continue throughout the day with Professor Anthony Burkitt presenting Neuroengineering approaches to the complexities of neural prosthetics. Key sessions will be devoted to Biomechanics, Computational Biology and Bioinstrumentational Technologies

Standards and Regulation
Standards are the bread and butter of clinical engineers. They are the very reason the profession exists. But where did they come from? Why are they so important? Why are they so complicated? And what can we expect to see next? Nobody knows more about this than Lawrie Knuckey from Biomedical Engineering Australia. The man himself will be conducting a workshop on CE Standards and Regulation for Medical Devices and Clinical Areas at which he will discuss these very issues and much more. No practising clinical engineer should miss this.

Posters

We will have a dedicated poster session, accompanied by wine and cheese of course! This will allow you to speak with the authors and mingle with other delegates. Posters will be displayed in the exhibition area throughout the conference, so that you can browse at your leisure.