2.8 Development, implementation and use of miniature portable technologies for the prevention, assessment and treatment of chronic diseases in Northern areas
Principal investigator
Co-Investigator
Andréanne Blanchet, Benoit Gosselin, Marc Hébert, Philip Jackson, Younès Messaddeq, François Routhier, Jean-Sébastien Roy
Collaborator
Charles Batcho, Alexandre Campeau-Lecours, Bradford McFadyen, Catherine Mercier, Philippe Archambault
Collaborator outside U. Laval
André Plamondon (IRRST)
Project summary
Current transformation of the North caused by global warming is leading to a rapid development and diversification of human activity and work. With these rapid changes occurring in challenging and less known environments, safety and health of northern populations (local and workers) represent areas of concern. The purpose of this project is to develop, deploy and validate new portable technologies (fiber-optic-based movement sensors and low-power miniature physiological sensors) to remotely monitor in real-time motor skills, mobility, and vital metabolic variables. These technologies will be used to evaluate and guide treatment for individuals with chronic diseases and / or physical disability (work-related or not). In addition, the data collected will later be used to develop predictive models to prevent the development of such diseases/disabilities.
Due to the novelty of the technologies and the wealth/complexity of the collected data, this project will lead to the creation of new intersectorial collaborations between Université Laval's researchers, the members of 3 provincial research networks (rehabilitation, pain and technology), and a private partner in remote collection/processing of health data. Experts in human rehabilitation, work risk assessment, software and hardware engineering, data processing (predictive modeling / epidemiology), psychology and motor control/neuroscience, will tackle together the challenge of quantifying human behavior in a real-world challenging environment and to relate it to health indicators.