Dr. Janie Wilson (McMaster University) Wins Phase I App Development Competition

The De Luca Foundation is pleased to announce Dr. Janie Wilson (McMaster University, Canada) as one of the winners of our Phase I App Development Competition, which provides a chance to win equipment and cash awards by developing EMG-centric applications for mobile devices with real-world viability.

Dr. Janie Wilson and co-team leader Jereme Outerleys (Spaulding National Running Center, Harvard Medical School, USA) will lead a team to develop an EMG-based App for Total Knee Arthroplasty Surgery Rehabilitation. The app will be made publicly available upon completion. Check our website in December 2019 for updates.

The Foundation thanks all the applicants who submitted their proposal.

Development Summary

The proposed Android mobile application will record and process surface electromyography (EMG) patterns of the thigh and calf muscles during walking gait in patients before and after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgery. The app will focus on processing and extracting features of the EMG signals and score these features along a functional spectrum created from a database of previously collected EMG data of those with severe and moderate knee OA, along with healthy controls. The app is targeted at Clinical support staff (i.e. rehab aids and physiotherapists) as a functional scoring tool to help quantify deficits and improvements in these neuromuscular patterns throughout rehabilitation, and to inform on the efficacy of current rehabilitation strategies post-TKA.

Development Team

Janie Wilson

Team Leader: Janie Wilson, PhD
Professor of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering
McMaster University
Canada

Janie Wilson is a Professor in the Department of Surgery, McMaster University, and an associate member of the School of Biomedical Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering. She holds a PhD (biomedical engineering) and MASc (biomedical engineering) from Dalhousie University, a BScEng in Engineering Mathematics from Queen’s University, and has completed a postdoctoral fellowship in barefoot running biomechanics at the University of Cape Town and the Sport Science Institute of South Africa. Before coming to McMaster University in 2018, she was a Professor in biomedical engineering and co-Director of the Dynamics of Human Motion laboratory at Dalhousie University. At McMaster, she leads a multidisciplinary research program in orthopaedic and musculoskeletal biomechanics that focusses on biomechanical, neuromuscular and statistical/big data modeling for human movement biomechanics, with a particular emphasis on understanding the role of joint level mechanics in the development, progression and treatment of osteoarthritis with joint replacement surgery. Her research also includes modeling of orthopedic outcomes and intraoperative orthopedic data through computer-assisted surgery. She is a Fellow of the International Combined Orthopaedic Research Societies, Past President of the Canadian Orthopaedic Research Society, and has leadership roles in the Orthopaedic Research Society, Bone and Joint Canada, and the Canadian Society for Biomechanics. 


Co-Team Leader: Jereme Outerleys, MASc
Research Engineer, Spaulding National Running Center, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Harvard Medical School
USA

Jereme Outerleys is the engineer and manager of the Spaulding National Running Center’s biomechanics laboratory in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School. He completed his MASc in Biomedical Engineering at Dalhousie University in Halifax, NS investigating the knee biomechanics targeted by total knee arthroplasty. His expertise lies in the design and execution of human biomechanics research and the development and testing of sensor-based systems for human movement, including electromyography and inertial sensors. Jereme also has expertise in applying signal processing and statistical tools for data reduction and interpretation of biomechanical data sets.


Development Tead Member: Dylan Kobsar, PhD
Assistant Professor in Neuromechanics, Department of Kinesiology
McMaster University
Canada

Dylan Kobsar received his BKin (2009, Kinesiology) and MSc (2012, Kinesiology) from the University of Regina, before completing his PhD (2017, Kinesiology; specializing in Biomechanics) at the University of Calgary in the world-renowned Human Performance Lab. Dr. Kobsar then completed a postdoctoral fellowship (2018, Computer Science/Kinesiology) at the University of Calgary, where he obtained a patent for his work in wearable sensors, machine learning, and human movement analysis. Following this work, Dr. Kobsar completed a postdoctoral fellowship (2019, Medicine) at the University of British Columbia. He is now a newly hired Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology within the Faculty of Science at McMaster University. His research program is focused on integrating technology with clinical practice to drive precision medicine solutions for musculoskeletal problems. Specifically, this work aims to utilize wearable technology to better understand the treatment responses and disease trajectories of individuals diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis.


Development Team Member: Renata Kirkwood, PT/PhD
Research Manager, MacREAL Laboratory
McMaster University
Canada

Renata Kirkwood received her BSc (1991, Physical Therapy) from Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil, MSc (1994, School of Rehabilitation Therapy), and Ph.D. (1997, School of Medicine, Dept. of Anatomy and Cell Biology) from Queen’s University. After completing her Ph.D., she received a post-doctoral training (1997-1998) at the Human Mobility Research Centre at Queen’s University. Dr. Kirkwood began her academic career at Pontificia Universidade Católica de Minas Gerais, Brazil, where she taught physical therapy students and was the subhead of the Physical Therapy program for three years. In 2003, she was appointed as an Assistant Professor at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil. She helped establish the Human Motion Laboratory where her research was focused on the investigation of the age-related effects on the biomechanics of gait that lead to falls. In 2010, Dr. Kirkwood returned to Canada to receive her second post-doctoral training (2010-2011) on statistics at the Dept. of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Queen’s University. She is currently a Research Manager at MacREAL (McMaster Rehabilitation and Aging Lab), School of Rehabilitation Science, McMaster University.