Neuroprosthetics symposium to be webcast live from Worcester Polytechnic Institute Nov. 3

The plenary presentations at Neuroprosthetics 2010, an international symposium covering the research and development of next-generation artificial limbs, will be available via a live webcast from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), beginning at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) on Nov. 3, 2010. No registration is required to view the webcast. The link to the webcast and the full program for the symposium are available at the symposium website: http://www.wpi.edu/+np

Organized by the WPI Bioengineering Institute, Neuroprosthetics 2010 will bring together scientists, engineers and clinicians to share their research and discuss the challenges that must be overcome to enable a new generation of artificial limbs that more closely replicate the function of natural limbs.

The symposium will focus on the twin challenges of osseointegration, or fusing a titanium post with the bone in a remnant limb to provide an anchor for an external prosthetic, and soft tissue integration, or creating a functional, infection-resistant seal of muscle, skin, and connective tissue around the post, and integrating the prosthetic's electromechanical systems with the body's own nervous system.

The keynote speakers are Kendra Calhoun, president of the Amputee Coalition of America, and Col. Jennifer Menetrez, MD, physical medicine and rehabilitation physician and director of the Center for the Intrepid at Brooke Army Medical Center. The Center for the Intrepid at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, is the U.S. Army's most advanced outpatient rehabilitation center built specifically to treat service members who lost limbs and suffered serious injuries, primarily in Iraq and Afghanistan. Based in Knoxville, Tenn., the Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) is a national non-profit organization focused on education and advocacy in support of the 1.7 million people in the United States who live with limb loss.

"We are pleased and honored to have leaders like Kendra Calhoun and Colonel Menetrez addressing the symposium," said W. Grant McGimpsey, PhD., director of the Bioengineering Institute, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and professor of biomedical engineering at WPI. "They will offer important perspectives from both the civilian and the military amputee populations to the scientists and clinicians working to improve the technology to help those populations."

Provided by Worcester Polytechnic Institute