NNB produced some live tweets from the recent Connected Health conference about “neuroprosthetic” research at Worcester Polytech’s Bioengineering Institute.

Tomorrow, researchers there will host a symposium on the topic. Registration is required but it’s free. And, if that won’t get you there, they are offering a live webcast of the event.

WPI’s W. Grant McGimpsey is one of the researchers working on smart prosthetics. At the Connected Health meeting, he said infection a major issue.

“We are looking at putting things into people’s bodies and leaving them for 50 or 60 years,” he said.

If researcher can deliver, lots of amputees coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan will benefit.

Speakers include 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.

Raymond L. Page, Ph.D of the Institute’s Department of Biology & Biotechnology

Dr. Page’s primary research program focus is the study of cell de-differentiation and differentiation aimed toward the development of methods to generate less differentiated therapeutically useful cells using in vitro manipulation techniques. His current projects include the use of biopolymer micro-thread scaffolding technology as a delivery vehicle for de-differentiated cells to repair large skeletal muscle defects. He is also interested in in vitro models of skeletal muscle formation and function.

For a full list of speakers, click here.

Above: WPI photo