On March 8th members of the HST community braved winter's frigid last gasp (we hope) and made their way to the Charlestown Navy Yard, home of the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging. For many, the 20th Annual HST Forum drew them away from their respective campuses to this remote location for the very first time.
The trip proved worthwhile. Approximately two hundred attendees eagerly absorbed the over seventy research posters presented by HST's enthusiastic students. In a span of a few feet, a listener could learn about the latest application of optical imaging to understand neonatal brain development as well as the use of stem cells for cartilage regeneration. A venture across the room rewarded the traveler with tales of both self-learning thought-controlled prosthetic limbs and an auditory theory that recasts the "noise" in the signal-to-noise model as valid "signal."
Following the poster session, attendees listened as HST alumnus, faculty member and Martinos Center Director Bruce Rosen, MD, PhD '84, spoke about the exciting research going on at the Center. In rapid-fire succession and without any apparent need for notes, Rosen explained each of the core technologies at work at the Martinos Center. He explained how, in every case, the work going on there is emblematic of the same tension that drives other HST research forward. That tension comes from a "technological push" that continually evolves new technologies and a "clinical pull" from constantly emerging new clinical questions.
With optical imaging technologies, for example, researchers can now assess the extent of damage to an injured newborn's brain. With this information come new clinical challenges---how can these newborns be treated? how can their improvement be assessed?---that bring together new techniques, new areas of expertise and new progress.
The Forum gave everyone at HST a chance to rub elbows and ideas and, given the resulting festivity, few opportunities for new connections were missed. As Rosen concluded in his keynote address, "if you have an idea, I'd love to hear from you."
Click here to view photos from the event
March 12, 2007
