Machine Learning for Biomedical Engineering: from Oncological Electroporation to Gesture Recognition

Overview

Abstract

In this presentation an overview is given on the most important research activities performed at the EML2. A first area of interest will be represented by the interaction between electromagnetic (EM) fields and living systems, and the possible applications in the biomedical context. A specific focus will be on a very recent activity, in the area of electroporation. By using nanopulsed electric fields, the controlled poration (reversible or irreversible) of cell membranes will be achieved, thus paving the way on impressive improvements in some medical (oncological, and not only) treatments. We will also demonstrate that Machine Learning can be of paramount importance to optimize these treatments. The use of Machine-Learning approaches will be also extended to other biomedical applications, one of them being gesture recognition. Another area of interest is represented by wearable devices. It is generally quite strictly related with the previous biomedical applications, and this will be demonstrated by proposing two different examples. One is related to the development of chipless RFID-based gloves for gesture recognition. The other application proposed is related to the development of wearable textile-based electrodes for bioimpedance measurements.Further applications related to the IoT world will conclude the presentation.

Brief Biography

Luciano Tarricone (Galatone, Lecce, 24 May 1966) is a Full Professor of Electromagnetic (EM) Fields at the University of Salento in Lecce, Italy, Department of Innovation Engineering. He got his Laurea degree in Electronic Engineering (Summa cum Laude) in 1989 from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, and his PhD (1994) from the same university, discussing a thesis on the interactions between biological systems and EM fields. He was a Research Fellow at the National Institute of Health in Rome (1990) and a System Engineer at IBM European Center for Scientific and Engineering Computing (1990-94). He was a Researcher at the University of Perugia (1994-2001), then an Associate Professor at the University of Salento (2002-10), where he currently holds the Chair of EM Fields and Applied Electromagnetics and is responsible of the Electromagnetic Labs. He has authored several books, including “Grid Computing for Electromagnetics” (Artech House) one of the first books published on the use of grid/cloud computing for EM applications. He is the author of more than 130 papers in international journals, more than 300 papers in conferences, and a reviewer for all the most important journals in the relevant fields. He also holds three patents in the area of RFID and WPT. He has been the TPC General Chair for the European Microwave Week 2014, General Chair for the 2015 Mediterranean Microwave Symposium, and is a member of the TPC of several major conferences. He is the Chapter Chair for the APS/MTTS Joint Chapter for Central and Southern Italy. He was elevated IEEE Fellow in 2021