Program

Sunday 16 November 2008

12:00pm - 2:30pm	Transport from Melbourne to Lorne Airport - 12:00pm Bionic Ear Institute - 12:00pm
2:00pm	Check-in from 2:00pm
2:00pm - 3:00pm	Lunch
2:30pm - 4:00pm	REGISTRATION & PLACE POSTERS
4:00pm - 4:30pm	Rob Shepherd Welcome & Official Opening
4:30pm - 5:30pm	Keynote Speaker: Professor Graeme Clark Medical Bionics: From Concept to Clinical Application
5:30pm - 7:00pm	Welcome Networking Drinks

Monday 17 November 2008

7:30am - 8:00am	REGISTRATION
8:00am - 10:30am	SESSION 1: MEDICAL BIONICS - OVERVIEW & DESIGN Chair: Rob Shepherd
8:00am - 8:30am	Jean Delbeke - Present problems and future expectations for neural interfaces
8:30am - 9:00am	Peter Seligman - Engineering considerations for a commercially viable neural prostheses
9:00am - 9:30am	Greg Suaning - Biostability of neural prostheses
9:30am - 10:00am	Stephen O’Leary - Pre-operative treatment to improve bionic prostheses safety and efficacy
10:00am - 10:30am	Chris Williams - Translational research - from the bench to the clinic: Experience with neonatal brain rescue
10:30am - 11:00am	Morning Tea Sponsored by NICTA
11:00am - 1:00pm	SESSION 2: SMARTER DEVICES: THE ROLE OF ICT & OTHER ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES IN MEDICAL BIONICS Chair: Bob Shannon
11:00am - 11:30am	Stan Skafidas - Wireless technologies for closed loop neural prostheses
11:30am - 12:00pm	Kensal Wise - Chronic microelectrode arrays and integrated wireless technology for advanced neural prostheses
12:00pm - 12:30pm	Thomas Stieglitz - Development of new electrode arrays for novel application in neural prostheses
12:30pm - 1:00pm	Richard Bittar - Mechanisms of deep brain stimulation
1:00pm - 2:00pm	Lunch
2:00pm - 3:30pm	POSTER SESSION 1 Presentations of odd numbered posters
3:00pm - 3:30pm	Afternoon Tea at the Posters
3:30pm - 6:00pm	SESSION 3: SMARTER MATERIALS: INTELLIGENT POLYMERS & NANOTECHNOLOGY IN MEDICAL BIONICS Chair: Claude Jolly
3:30pm - 4:00pm	Gordon Wallace - Organic nanobionics
4:00pm - 4:30pm	Rachael Richardson - Drug delivery via intelligent polymers: Auditory nerve rescue for bionic ears
4:30pm - 5:00pm	Frank Caruso - How nanotechnology can contribute to new applications in medical bionics
5:00pm - 5:30pm	David Martin - Smart biomaterials for applications in medical bionics
5:30pm - 6:00pm	Keiichi Torimitsu - Receptor based nano-bio research: Application to medical bionics

Tuesday 18 November 2008

7:30am - 8:30am	REGISTRATION
8:00am - 10:30am	SESSION 4: NEURAL INTERFACES FOR CNS & SPINAL CORD STIMULATION Chair: Jean Delbeke
8:00am - 8:30am	Vivian Mushahwar - Spinal cord stimulation for restoring lower extremity function
8:30am - 9:00am	Tony Burkitt - Epileptic seizure detection and prediction: Signal processing and modelling methods
9:00am - 9:30am	Mark Cook - Epilepsy control via cortical stimulation
9:30am - 10:00am	Jeffrey Rosenfeld - Neurosurgical and ethical issues associated with neural prostheses
10:00am - 10:30am	Keith McLean - Novel biocompatible materials for implantable devices
10:30am - 11:00am	Morning Tea
11:00am - 1:00pm	SESSION 5: RETINAL PROSTHESES Chair: Tony Burkitt
11:00am - 11:30am	Hugh Taylor - Epidemiology of blindness: Is there a place for a bionic eye in ophthalmology?
11:30am - 12:00pm	James Weiland - Challenges for retinal prostheses
12:00pm - 12:30pm	Thomas Stieglitz - Development of a retinal prostheses
12:30pm - 1:00pm	Nigel Lovell - The development of a bionic eye: An Engineering perspective
1:00pm - 2:00pm	Lunch Sponsored by NICTA
2:00pm - 3:30pm	POSTER SESSION 2 Presentations by even numbered posters
3:00pm - 3:30pm	Afternoon Tea at the Posters
3:30pm - 6:00pm	SESSION 6: AUDITORY PROSTHESES Chair: Claus-Peter Richter
3:30pm - 4:00pm	David Grayden - Signal processing for improved speech perception: Application of auditory models
4:00pm - 4:30pm	Hugh McDermott - Electrical stimulation in partially deaf ears: Expanding the application of cochlear implants
4:30pm - 5:00pm	Bob Shannon - Electric stimulation of the human cochlea, cochlear nucleus and inferior colliculus: Implications for speech recognition
5:00pm - 5:30pm	Antonio Paolini - New strategies for electrical stimulation of the central auditory pathway
5:30pm - 6:00pm	Richard Dowell - The clinical application of cochlear implants: Why a human is not like an iPod
7:30pm - 11:00pm	Conference Dinner Dinner Speaker: Dr Mike Hirshorn OAM MiniFAB Student Poster Prizes

Wednesday 19 November 2008

7:30am - 8:30am	REGISTRATION
8:00am - 10:00am	SESSION 7: CELL-BASED THERAPIES: APPLICATION IN MEDICAL BIONICS Chair: Mark Cook
8:00am - 8:30am	Lisa Pettingill - Cell-based delivery of neurotrophins for auditory nerve rescue
8:30am - 9:00am	Stephen Skinner - Development of alginate capsules for cell based therapies in neurological diseases
9:00am - 9:30am	Peter Rathjen - Stem cells and novel therapies
9:30am - 10:00am	Rob Kapsa - Regenerative bionics for excitable cells: Towards development of multimodal bio-synthetic systems for muscle and nerve regeneration
10:00am - 10:30am	Morning Tea
10:00am	Check-out by 10:00am
10:30am - 1:00pm	SESSION 8: FUTURE DIRECTIONS Chair: Pat Leake
10:30am - 11:00am	Claus-Peter Richter - Optical stimulation of neural tissue: Is this the future for neural prostheses?
11:00am - 11:30am	James Fallon - Sensory neural prostheses and brain plasticity
11:30am - 12:00pm	Robert Cowan - Issues in translating lab success to clinical applications
12:00pm - 12:30pm	Susan Dodds - Ethical issues in medical bionics: Justice, impairment and enhancement technologies
12:30pm - 1:00pm	Iven Mareels - Medical Bionics in 2050
1:00pm - 1:10pm	Rob Shepherd Closing Comments
1:10pm - 2:00pm	Lunch
2:00pm - 4:30pm	Transport from Lorne to Melbourne Bionic Ear Institute – 4:30pm Airport – 5:45pm

Thursday 20 November 2008

9:00am - 5:00pm	SPECIAL SITE VISIT - MiniFab (from Friday 14/11 till Friday 21/11) MiniFAB visit, as per individual arrangements; please email or follow the MiniFAB web page link from our sponsor section for further information and registration.
9:00am - 3:00pm	SITE VISIT 1 – MELBOURNE** The Bionic Ear Institute 384-388 Albert Street, East Melbourne (02) 9428 6365

Friday 21 November 2008

9:30am - 11:00am

SITE VISIT 3 – SYDNEY** Cochlear Limited 14 Mars Road, Lane Cove (02) 9428 6365 **These site visits have been pre-booked. We regret that there are no further vacancies available.

Disclaimer: The Conference program information is correct at the time of printing. However, the organisers reserve the right to change the information where necessary without notice.

Poster presentations

Oral presentations will be complemented by peer-reviewed poster presentations providing an opportunity for both established and early career researchers and students to present and discuss their work.

Poster Session Sponsorship

We are delighted to announce that MiniFab will sponsor five student prizes for best posters at the conference to the level of $7,000.

The prizes will consist of:

• Four $500 prizes for outstanding student posters in all research categories;
• One major award for the best biomedical engineering student poster (in kind research collaboration with MiniFab to the value of $5,000 (this prize is not available in cash).

The winners will be announced at Conference Dinner on 18 November. All posters submitted by a student registrant will be included for consideration by the judging panel.

Panel discussion

To be determined

^ top of page