Discussing photonics tools for pediatrics in the 3rd BMPN annual meeting
The Barcelona Medical Photonics Network celebrated the third edition of its annual meeting, gathering experts focuses discussion on photonic techniques to improve diagnostics and treatment personalization in pediatrics.
On Wednesday 17th of April, the Barcelona Medical Photonics Network (BMPN) celebrated the third edition of its annual meeting. This year's edition was co-organized with ICFO's two main medical partners in the field of Pediatrics: Sant Joan de Déu Barcelona Children's Hospital (SJD), where the event was held, and Vall Hebron University Hospital, as well as their respective research institutes.
The session started with Dr. Joan Comella, director of the Institute of Research Sant Joan de Déu (IRSJD) and director of Research, Innovation and Learning at the SJD Barcelona Children's Hospital Dr. Comella introduced the event highlighting the fundamental goal of their institution, which focuses on carrying out state-of-the-art research of rare diseases in children, and the collaborations between institutions and other hospitals as a key ingredient to achieve this goal.
High resolution microscopy techniques for biomedical and clinical applications
Dr. Cecilia Jiménez, Group Leader of the Applied Research in Neuromuscular Diseases group at IRSJD, delved deeper into other high-resolution techniques also explored in collaboration with ICFOaround neuromuscular diseases and related innovative therapies.
Non-invasive tools to monitor the baby brain
Dr. Joan Sánchez de Toledo, leader of Cardiovascular Diseases and Child Development Group at IRSJD and Chair of Pediatric Cardiology at SJD and Dr. Marta Camprubí, researcher at Neonatology Research Group (GReN) at IRSJD and neonatologist at SJD, talked about TinyBrains, an ongoing European research project coordinated by ICFO that aims at understanding the mechanisms of brain damage in neonates born with congenital heart defects through neuromonitoring.
The first talk described the studies that have been carried out with animal models, while the second focused on the recent clinical studies in newborn babies, explaining how monitoring the brain through these techniques before, during and after surgery can help guide the clinical actions to be taken.Dr. Carme Fons, researcher at Epilepsy and movement disorders in Pediatrics Group at IRSJD and Head of the Neurology Service at SJD centred her talk around this topic.
Finally, Dr. Chiara Santolin, researcher at IRSJD and the UPF Center for Brain and Cognition who presented her forthcoming studies on the mechanisms of language acquisition using optical imaging.
A fruitful ongoing collaboration
Overall, the 3rd BMPN edition showed the importance of the interconnection between photonics and medical research, highlighting and placing a special interest in how neuromonitoring tools can improve patient management in pediatrics.
Dr. Joan Comella emphasizes the importance of conducting state-of-the-art research on rare diseases in children and collaborating with other institutions and hospitals.