Postgraduate ProsPectus - Aston University

School of Engineering & Applied Science
Biomedical Engineering Research Group
School of Engineering & Applied Science
Computer Science Research Group
Group overview
The Group has five academic staff with international
track records of working at the interfaces between
engineering and medicine, biology, manufacturing and
design. The group produces innovative state-of-the-art
devices for use in surgery, medicine and rehabilitation.
Research interests
Medical devices including artificial heart implants,
neurosensory devices (cochlear)
Robotics including micro-robotic surgical tools
Smart sensing systems for discriminating tissues,
cells, proteins on the micro and nano scale
Biomechanics including cell mechanics,
computational and experimental bloodflow
dynamics.
We would be interested in supervising projects in the
areas of novel medical devices, sensing and diagnosis
systems, modelling in biomedical engineering.
Current projects
Development of a smart catheter for endovascular
intervention
Microsystems for medical diagnosis
Occular alignment for ophthalmic instruments
Development of a combination optical coherence
tomography and high resolution imaging system
Chronic intermittent mechanical cardiac support
Modelling of carotid atherosclerotic plaque stability
Modelling of anterior eye tissues.
Specialist equipment
State-of-the-art facilities such as confocal
microscopes, microlaser tracking systems, atomic
force microscope, scanning micro laser vibrometer,
EMG monitoring equipment, robotic manipulators and
rapid prototyping facilities.
Funding sources
Our research is funded by a range of research councils,
government bodies, charity foundations and industrial
sponsors.
Collaboration
We work closely with hospitals and international
institutions, such as the QE hospital in Birmingham,
St George’s hospital in London, University of Illinois
and the World Academy of Biomedical Technology of
UNESCO.
Group overview
The Computer Science Research Group brings
together expertise from a wide range of Computer
Science areas. Group members pursue funded
research in five main themes: computational
intelligence, software engineering, pattern analysis,
visual information processing and cognitive science.
The theory and tools developed by the group are used
in application domains ranging from health informatics
to geoinformatics. The group has close links with the
Non-linearity and Complexity Research Group.
Research interests
We are interested in supervising projects in:
Health informatics, specialising in clinical decision
support and ontologies
Computational intelligence: agent-based systems,
evolutionary computation, semantic web, and
spatial systems
Software engineering: reliable software, adaptive
computer systems
Visual Information Processing: visual 3D inference,
video analysis
Cognitive science: computational models of
decision processes, human-computer interaction
(HCI), including mobile HCI.
Current projects
GRiST tool for mental health decision support
GeoViQua improving data from earth observation
systems with applications in ecology and
meteorology
ADVANCE: improved decision support for logistics.
Specialist equipment
Aston Interactive Media Lab: for the design and
evaluation of novel interaction technologies and
computer vision
High-performance computer clusters run by the
School.
Funding sources
UK research councils and National Health Service,
industry (Knowledge Transfer Partnerships and CASE
studentships), charities, and the EU.
Collaboration
Collaborations are organised around the development
of real-world applications, and have led to innovative
systems that are used in industry and the health
service.
Application and contact
Research Group Convenor
Professor Ian Nabney
T: +44 (0)121 204 3645
F +44 (0)121 204 3676
E: i.t.nabney@aston.ac.uk
W: www.aston.ac.uk/eas/research/groups/csrg
Application and contact
Research Group Convenor
Dr Xianghong Ma
T: +44 (0)121 204 3592
E: x.ma@aston.ac.uk
W: www.aston.ac.uk/eas/research/groups/biomedical
54 To find out more: Telephone: +44 (0)121 204 3400 | Email: engineering@aston.ac.uk | www.aston.ac.uk/eas
www.aston.ac.uk
55