BrainMap

Mr. Bogdan Gherman

PhD

Associate Professor - UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA

Researcher | Teaching staff | Scientific reviewer

Curriculum Vitae (13/01/2020)

Expertise & keywords

Innovative robotic instrument for surgical abdominal procedures Call name:
GNaC 2018 2019 - 2020

Role in this project: Project coordinator

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA ()

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA ()

Project website:

Abstract:

The FOCUS project proposes the development of an innovative robotic instrument for precise insertion of the needles,

being used as the final effector of a robotic system for the treatment of cancer in the abdominal area.

The targeted treatment methods are brachytherapy and the delivery of drugs to the target, in tumors.

In order to improve the insertion accuracy, an advanced control system of the insertion force and speed is developed, to avoid needle deflection and tissue displacement.

Innovative development of Rehabilitation and Assistive Healthy Ageing Robotic Systems Call name:
-

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA CLUJ-NAPOCA

Project partners:

Affiliation:

Project website:

Abstract:

An innovative robotic system for upper limb rehabilitation Call name:
EIT Health InnoStars RIS 2019 Innovation Call 2019 - 2019

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA (RO); SPITALUL CLINIC MUNICIPAL (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA (RO)

Project website:

Abstract:

InnoHealth consortium aims to develop an innovative modular rehabilitation robotic system designed for post-stroke

patients with impaired upper limb, consisting of three robotic modules able to perform:

1. Shoulder rehabilitation (first module) achieving adduction/abduction and flexion/extension;

2. Elbow rehabilitation (second module) achieving elbow flexion and pronation/supination;

3. Wrist rehabilitation (third module) achieving wrist adduction/abduction and flexion/extension.

The modules can work independently (each module can be acquired separately) and simultaneously (the system works

with up to 3 patients at a time). Each module is an exoskeleton having adjustable elements to cover the 95th percentile of the population.

Maciejasz et al. in “A survey on robotic devices for upper limb rehabilitation” state that: “Modularity and re-configurability are concepts that could reduce therapy costs by adopting therapeutic devices for various disabilities or stages in patient recovery.” The InnoHealth solution is unique and better than existing solutions since it provides an innovative modular design of the robotic system, with clear advantages in terms of:

a. Cost efficiency: each robotic module can be acquired and operated separately;

b. Distinct functionality: the InnoHealth robotic system can work with three different patients simultaneously, treating

different arm limbs in each case;

c. Easier maintenance: in case a module repairing, the others may still work.

InnoHealth starts at IML3 as the robotic PoC has been achieved and validated in laboratory experiments. 6 clinicians estimated the prototype. Initial needs and workflow for the robotic system have been updated. Specific instruments (1 report, 3 questionnaires) regarding competitor’s analysis, the value proposition, the path to payment and stakeholder map have been developed (more than 10 stakeholders). Medical solution has been classified, medical indications for robotic system use and regulatory pathway regarding CE marking have been identified and written (in long lasting cooperation with the Municipal Clinic Hospital Cluj-Napoca - partner P1). Reports with PoC demonstration results using healthy subjects have been achieved.

Manipulation Systems for Sample Handling in a Sample Receiving Facility Call name:
TASUK /16/11305/NBO/1424 -

Role in this project: Key expert

Coordinating institution: Thales UK

Project partners:

Affiliation:

Project website:

Abstract:

A multi-purpose needle insertion device for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer Call name: Projects for Young Research Teams - RUTE -2014 call
PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-0992 2015 - 2017

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA (RO)

Project website: http://www.cester.utcluj.ro/accurate/index.html

Abstract:

The fight against cancer has two main components strongly interconnected: diagnosis and treatment. An early, accurate diagnosis can provide the means for local targeted treatment of the tumors with excellent life expectancy.

In accordance with the complementary competences and experience of the research group the main project objective is defined: Development of a family of needle placement devices able to perform highly accurate needle guidance with force feedback in three oncologic procedures: biopsies, brachytherapy and radiofrequency ablation.

The ACCURATE project is lead by dr.-ing. Calin VAIDA, a young scientist (34 years old) with an excellent scientific activity which sums up to over 90 scientific papers (11 in ISI journals), over 65 citations (without self-citations, in SCOPUS), the participation in over 20 projects (coordinating 7), 8 patent applications and 1 accepted one, three books and a book in Springer as Co-editor. Calin VAIDA completed his PhD and postdoctoral studies in medical engineering contributing to the achievement of several robotic solutions which represented national premieres in minimally invasive surgery and oncology.

His background and experience, along with the competences of the research team appointed for this project, supports the goals of ACCURATE representing a warranty for the successful completion of the project objectives and the development of a new, innovative tool, contributing to the development of cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Robotic assisted prostate biopsy, a high accuracy innovative method Call name: Joint Applied Research Projects - PCCA 2013 - call
PN-II-PT-PCCA-2013-4-0647 2014 - 2017

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA (RO); UNIVERSITATEA DE MEDICINA SI FARMACIE (U.M.F) Cluj-Napoca (RO); UNIVERSITATEA TRANSILVANIA BRASOV (RO); ELECTRONIC APRIL APARATURA ELECTRONICA SPECIALA S.R.L. (RO); INSTITUTUL NATIONAL DE CERCETARE DEZVOLTARE PENTRU OPTOELECTRONICA INOE 2000 INCD FILIALA INSTITUTUL DE CERCETARI PENTRU INSTRUMENTATIE ANALITICA CLUJ NAPOCA (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA (RO)

Project website: http://www.cester.utcluj.ro/robocore/index.html

Abstract:

Prostate cancer is the most widely spread form of cancer, generally affecting men of age over 45. Several studies showed that 80% of the men over 70 had different forms of prostate cancer, most of them not being aware of that.

As in any disease, early diagnosis allows simpler curative actions, less patient trauma, better life expectancy and quality for the patient. Nevertheless, the diagnosis for prostate cancer is carried in the same way as it was performed 50 years ago. It involves a 12-core, transrectal ultrasound guided biopsy (TRUS). This technique is performed without knowing the exact 3D tumours location and it was proven that in 30% of the cases, it provides false-negative results. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) enables a better view of the prostate with clear tumour definition, but MRI guided biopsy can be achieved only with MRI compatible materials which make the procedure prohibitive. The current worldwide diagnosis technique for prostate cancer has some major drawbacks: low real-time image quality, blind biopsy and impossibility of registering the 3D location of the biopsy cores.

Early and correct diagnosis represents a critical priority and due to the current limitations it becomes the starting point of the ROBOCORE project. The consortium proposes the development of a system to achieve high accuracy ultrasound guided prostate biopsies through: ► the biopsy accuracy increase by the development of a robot capable to position the biopsy gun using the visual feedback from the TRUS probe, and ► the achievement of a software solution which performs the simulation, in virtual reality, of the prostate biopsy using MRI data.

The project aim is to develop a robotic system which combines the MRI capacity to identify malignant tissue and precisely define the biopsy targets with the accessibility and real-time capability of an ultrasound guided system. Using the virtual reality software the coordinates of the biopsy targets are identified, and using the robot the biopsy is performed with high accuracy. The system has two major components: ► a robot capable to perform the TRUS guided biopsy based on specific points of interest identified before, and ► an advanced software capable to perform the simulation in a virtual environment for the robotic assisted prostate biopsy.

Based on the defined aim and estimated results (Experimental Model of the robot capable of performing prostate biopsies + simulation software in virtual reality environment for the prostate biopsy + trained young scientists, 6 PhD students +patent +10 papers + 5 communications) ROBOCORE addresses the Domain 7–Innovative Materials, Processes and Products, and responds to the demands formulated in the research theme 7.3.2 Applied mechatronics; intelligent mechatronic products and systems.

The consortium is coordinated by the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca with renowned specialists in the field of parallel robots, and four institutional partners: University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca with a team of urology doctors specialised in prostate cancer, University Transilvania of Brasov, which provides the software and virtual reality specialists, the Research Institute for Analytical Instrumentation with know-how in the development of medical devices and a private company, Electronic April Cluj-Napoca, specialised in medical apparatus development and commercialization. It must be stated that all the consortium members have previous experience and successful achievements in the field of medical robotics.

The end-product of ROBOCORE is an innovative complex system, which aims to provide accurate diagnosis in early cancer stages, enabling the proper therapy identification and an active surveillance of the tumours evolution which reduces the patient discomfort, provides him the right treatment at the right time and also enables proper follow-up after each evaluation or therapy stage.

SYSTEM FOR DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPY OF SPINE DISEASES Call name: Joint Applied Research Projects - PCCA 2013 - call
PN-II-PT-PCCA-2013-4-1596 2014 - 2017

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA TRANSILVANIA BRASOV

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA TRANSILVANIA BRASOV (RO); UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA (RO); UNIV.DE MEDICINA SI FARMACIE - CAROL DAVILA (RO); ELECTRONIC APRIL APARATURA ELECTRONICA SPECIALA S.R.L. (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA (RO)

Project website: http://spine.unitbv.ro/

Abstract:

This project aims at designing, developing and testing an innovative system for the diagnosis and treatment of spine disorders. The product is based on a patent pending idea of the project team and consists in a mechatronic device able to measure in real time the instantaneous position of the human spine facilitating a precise diagnosis as well as continuous monitoring for prevention and/or treatment of spine disorders.

Most of the spine disorders are due to abnormal postures during the daily routine that are characteristic to some activities or bad habits related to spine postures when seated or standing. Once installed, for most of the spine disorders medication is available just for pain relief, while for curing corrective postures and posture education are the only remedies. In more serious cases surgical interventions can be possible but then other secondary risks appear. In the acute phases the treatment consists in following specific physical exercises and respecting corrective postures that are under strict surveillance in hospital until the symptoms improve. After leaving the hospital, a strict posture discipline is needed for long time. Nevertheless, most of the patients reintegrate rapidly into the old daily routine - the same that caused the disease and very often the disease relapses.

The main idea of the proposed system is to create an intelligent clothing item (vest) able to identify in real time the deviation from the prescribed postures and warn the patient about it. The sensorial vest is equipped with positional sensors, small actuators, controllers and a portable computer system (smartphone, tablet), which can identify in real time geometric positions of the vertebrae. The gathered information is then processed by a dedicated application that can serve for two important medical purposes:

a) Diagnose – consisting in the accurate measurement of spinal instantaneous posture, interpretation of data and comparison with reference data about spine diseases that are stored in a knowledge base. For the diagnosis purpose the system is driven by a desktop application including an accurate 3D user interface that is convenient to use by the medical team for both interpreting the results and simulation of the possible postural treatments.

b) Therapy – the system is driven by a smartphone application and it is able to perform a permanent monitoring of the spine postures and compare them with prescribed references. If the prescribed posture is violated, the patient receives a delicate warning stimulus on the deviated spot to remind him/her to correct the posture. In addition, the application installed onto the smartphone will be able adapt the reference postures, according to the progress of the therapy.

The project is addressing the priority area 7.3.8.Organic prosthetic equipment and medical equipment for examination, diagnosis and monitoring based on computer and includes all ingredients of a classical mechatronic approach: mobile kinematic structure, sensor and actuator system and the controller connected with a computer program application. The project consortium includes two academic research teams with expertise in mechatronics (Transilvania University of Brasov and Technical University Cluj-Napoca), one academic team with expertise in medicine (University of Medicine Carol Davila of Bucharest) and one enterprise team from a company operating on the biomedical mechatronic products market -April SRL.

The movements of the vertebrae are detected by using various types of transducers and thus the actual posture can be identified by means of a 3D model that represents the vertebrae linked together by appropriate joints. In the context of the European priorities related to healthy ageing, the product has a high market potential, given that 60-90% of the population is affected by lumbar problems until they reach an age of 90. To the best knowledge of the project consortium, no similar product or system exists on the market

Robotic assisted brachytherapy, an innovative approach of inoperable cancers Call name: Joint Applied Research Projects - PCCA-2011 call, Type 2
PN-II-PT-PCCA-2011-3.2-0414 2012 - 2016

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA (RO); UNIVERSITATEA DE MEDICINA SI FARMACIE (U.M.F) Cluj-Napoca (RO); UNIVERSITATEA TRANSILVANIA BRASOV (RO); ELECTRONIC APRIL APARATURA ELECTRONICA SPECIALA S.R.L. (RO); INSTITUTUL NATIONAL DE CERCETARE-DEZVOLTARE PENTRU OPTOELECTRONICA INOE 2000 INCD (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA (RO)

Project website: http://www.cester.utcluj.ro/chance.html

Abstract:

Cancer is one of the main causes of death nowadays, due to a complex set of uncontrollable natural and artificial factors. An innovative option in the fight against cancer is brachytherapy (BT), called also internal radiation. BT enables to deliver higher doses of radiation to more-specific areas of the body, compared with the conventional form of radiation therapy. That means a very high dose can be delivered to a well defined area, without harming the healthy tissue in the immediate vicinity. The precision of the radioactive placement is crucial, as a geographical miss of a part of the tumor might cause a recurrence, whereas inserting the catheters outside the tumor will profoundly and uselessly irradiate healthy tissue, inducing necrosis and severe complications.

The project consortium proposes an innovative minimal invasive approach in brachytherapy interventions, offering viable solutions for the treatment of cancer patients considered inoperable.

Therefore, CHANCE intends to develop a robotic system having high accuracy and dexterity able to insert the BT catheters in deeply situated primary or recurrent cancers, in cases judged inoperable whether by the topography/extension of the disease or by the medical general condition. These include paravertebral tumors, retroperitoneal sarcomas, head and neck cancers, brain, liver, lung, bone or any inoperable symptomatic metastases.

In the new proposed concept the pre-planning phase will be longer, but the operating time and the invasivity on the patient is minimized, offering the inoperable cancer patient a chance to survive.

The aim of the project can be defined: The project intends to exploit the complementary competences from different fields in order to develop innovative solutions with outstanding performances due to accurate control systems based on the concept and characteristics of advanced robotics in order to offer efficient solutions for minimally invasive approach in the treatment of inoperable cancers.

FILE DESCRIPTION	DOCUMENT
List of research grants as project coordinator or partner team leader
Significant R&D projects for enterprises, as project manager
R&D activities in enterprises
Peer-review activity for international programs/projects