University of Cyprus (UCY, host organization)

University of Cyprus

The University of Cyprus, located in Nicosia, Cyprus, is the leading research University in Cyprus that aspires to promote scholarship and education standards of excellence through teaching and research. The University of Cyprus and its Office of Sponsored Research have previous experience in managing projects funded by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation and the European Commission. UCY has received successful competitive research funding that has exceeded the 15 million Euro mark over the 1996-2008 period. Recently, UCY has revised its research policy in order to increase the efficiency of the University to utilize research funding and opportunities and to better promote research initiatives in Cyprus. Specifically, the host Electrical and Computer Eng. (ECE) department has, in 2003-2008, received several million Euro in research funding and its faculty has published around 90 journal papers, 180 conference papers and 20 patents. Furthermore, the available computing facilities in the host Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, in combination with the expertise and competence of the project coordinator in biosignal processing, particularly qualify UCY for hosting the team.

Key people

Dr. Georgios Mitsis is currently a Lecturer at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Cyprus. He obtained 2 M.S. Degrees in Electrical Engineering and in Bioengineering, as well as the Ph.D. Degree in Bioengineering from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles CA. His research interests are in dynamic systems modelling, with a particular emphasis on nonlinear biological/ physiological systems, and in biosignal and image processing. He has extensive research experience in this field, both in algorithm development for nonlinear signals/systems analysis, particularly for the efficient estimation of Volterra-type models, and in the study of several physiological systems, including the cardiovascular, respiratory, metabolic and nervous systems. Specifically, he has studied the applications of various linear and nonlinear approaches, such as differential equations, impulse response, neural network and Volterra models in the study of cerebral autoregulation, respiratory control, glucose metabolism and control as well as neural encoding in mechanoreceptors, using various experimental modalities, such as functional magnetic resonanceimaging (fMRI), transcranial Doppler ultrasound etc. He is particularly interested in cerebrovascular physiology and hemodynamics, and in functional brain imaging with EEG and fMRI. With respect to EEG signal analysis, he is currently collaborating with the Lab of Dr. Giandomenico Iannetti at the Dept. of Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, UK, studying somatosensory evoked potentials and their nonlinear properties for short inter-stimulus intervals. Therefore, his research expertise fits the scope of the present  proposal very well. Previous to his appointment as a Lecturer at UCY, he held research positions at the Biomedical Simulations Resource, Los Angeles CA, the Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (fMRIB Centre) at the University of Oxford, UK and the National Technical University of Athens. He has over 50 publications in international journals and conference proceedings in the field of Bioengineering. He has supervised 4 graduate students in the past and he is currently supervising 4 undergraduate and graduate students at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The project coordinator possesses outstanding experience in participating in international research projects and conducting research in the bioengineering field. His scientific competence in the aforementioned areas, together with his previous record in working within multidisciplinary research groups in world renowned research laboratories (USC Biomedical Simulations Resource and Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain - University of Oxford), will greatly benefit this project.

Prof. Charalambos D. Charalambous received the B.S. degree in 1987, the M.S. degree in 1988, and the Ph.D. in 1992, all in Electrical Engineering from Old Dominion University, Virginia, USA. In 2003 he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Cyprus, where he is a Professor. In 2005 he was elected Associate Dean of the School of Engineering. He was an Associate Professor at University of Ottawa, School of Information Technology and Engineering from 1999 to 2003, and an adjunct Professor with McGill University from 1999 to 2002. He has served on the faculty of McGill University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, as a visiting faculty, from 1995 to 1999. From 1993 to 1995 he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Idaho State University, Engineering Department. He is currently an associate editor of the Systems and Control Letters, IEEE Communications Letters, and Technical Committee Chair for the IFAC (International Federation on Automatic Control) on Stochastic Systems, and from 2002 to 2004 he served as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control. He was a member of the Canadian Centers of Excellence through MITACS (the mathematics of information technology and complex systems), from 1998 to 2001. In 2001 he received the Premier's Research Excellence Award of the Ontario Province of Canada. Charalambou's research group ICCCSystemS, Information, Communication and Control of Complex Systems is interested in theoretical and technological developments concerning large scale distributed communication and control systems and networks in science and engineering. These include theory and of stochastic processes and systems subject to uncertainty, communication and control systems and networks, large deviations, information theory, robustness and their connections to statistical mechanics, and large scale distributed systems. His research received funding from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Department of Defence, the European Commission, the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation, and the University of Cyprus via Competitive Fund programs.

Dr. Manolis Christodoulakis received his BSc in 2001 from the Department of Computer Engineering and Informatics, University of Patras, and his PhD in 2005 from the Department of Computer Science in King’s College London. Since July 2011 he is working as a Research Associate at the KIOS Research Center and part-time Lecturer at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Cyprus. Previously, he worked as a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Cyprus (2009-2011), as a Lecturer at the University of East London (2007-2009) and as a Teaching Assistant, Research Associate and External Lecturer at King’s College London (2001-2006). His research interests include the design and analysis of algorithms — with emphasis on string algorithms (pattern matching, locating repetitions and regularities, etc.)—, the combinatorial analysis of algorithms and data structures, and the theory of complex networks. Manolis' research finds applications mainly in  the interdisciplinary field  of  bioinformatics, where sequences of symbols (strings) represent for example DNA or protein sequences, but also in other fields such as computational music analysis and digital humanities. More recently, he started working in the related field of biomedical engineering, where he applies the theory of complex networks to perform EEG signal analysis of functional brain networks. He has co-authored and participated in a number of funded research projects and has published about 30 papers in refereed conference proceedings, journals and book chapters. In recognition to his research contributions, King's College awarded him with the position of Honorary Visiting Research Fellow between 2007-2010. Also, since 2008 he is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK.

Maria Anastasiadou received her undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of Athens in 2009. She then joined the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Surrey, UK, where she earned a M.Sc in Medical Physics (2010). In 2011 she joined the KIOS Research Center for Intelligent Systems and Networks at the University of Cyprus as a graduate level researcher (Ph.D student). She currently works on a funded project for the study of epilepsy, multimodal detection and prediction of epileptic seizures. Her current research interests include system identification, pattern recognition and mathematical models than can be used for the detection and prediction of epileptic seizures by using EEG signal.

The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics (CING)

The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics

The Clinical Neurophysiology lab of the CING serves the needs of the clinics in providing diagnostic facilities for the investigation of central and peripheral nervous system disorders. These evaluations are acquired in the form of electrical waves that are recorded by the stimulation of the peripheral (sensory organs), as well as the central (brain and spinal cord) nervous system. They include, among others, electroencephalography which records brain electrical activity, evoked potentials, which record brain activity resulting by stimulation of the sensory organs, electromyography, which records signals directly from muscle, and nerve conduction velocities which record from the peripheral nerves. Multimodal evoked potentials are performed on patients with suspected multiple sclerosis; nerve conduction studies and electromyographyare performed on patients with neuromuscular symptoms, electroencephalography and Video scalp EEG is used to evaluate epileptic and other paroxysmal disorders. Note that CING possesses the infrastructure for intracranial EEG recordings in the context of presurgical evaluation, therefore we will compare between scalp and intracranial recordings whenever possible. The laboratory is also involved in research to develop new or improved neurodiagnostic methods for various neurological disorders. The laboratory staff has extensive experience in the performance of these procedures and the interpretation of the waveforms obtained. Several publications in peer-reviewed journals report on the research findings and activities which include among others the following: Study of rare neuromuscular diseases in the Eastern Mediterranean Region; Formulation of diagnostic criteria for Mitochondrial encephalomyopathies; Role of utrophin in disease modification in Duchenne muscular dystrophy; Evaluation of new methods in diagnosing peripheral neuropathy; Optimization of Quantitative EMG; Central and peripheral nervous system plasticity recorded electrophysiologically; Single-fiber electromygraphy findings in relation to the orbicularis oculi muscle; Polysomnographic findings in patients with vagus nerve stimulation implants; B12 deficiency polyneuropathy and quantitative sensory testing findings; Vestibular evoked neurogenic responses in patients with neurological and otological disorders.

Key people

Dr Savvas Papacostas is Director of the Clinical Neurophysiology Lab of CING since 1994, where he is also a Senior Consultant Neurologist. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Neurology at the University of Rochester, NY. His main interests include EEG, evoked potentials and other evaluation procedures for the functional state of the central nervous system. He has extensive research experience in the field of evoked sensory signals. He teaches neurophysiology, neuroanatomy and neuropharmacology at the Dept. of Psychology, UCY. Dr Papacostas monitors patients with intractable and drug-resistant epilepsy, including their pre-surgical evaluation and their intra-operative monitoring during brain surgery to cure or palliate their seizures. He is also in charge of the behavioral neurology clinic of the CING, where he evaluates patients neuro-degenerative disorders.

Dr. Eleftherios Papathanasiou is a member of the International Society of Vestibular Research, the International Brain Research Organization, the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology and the European Neurological Society. He has been working as a clinical Neurophysiologist for 16 years, including appointments at Loyola University Medical Center and Hines Veterans Administration Hospital in Chicago, IL.

Institute of Communication and Computer Systems (ICCS-NTUA)

Institute of Communication and Computer SystemsICCS is an independent research institute associated with the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (SECE) of the National Technical University of Athens. It was established in 1989 in order to carry out research in telecommunications and computer systems and techniques, software and hardware engineering, control systems and biomedical engineering. The Microwaves and Fiber Optics Laboratory (MFOL) (est. 1985) is part of ICCS and carries out research in the areas of microwave, fiber optics, millimeter waves, telecommunications, sensor systems, biomedical engineering and wireless technologies. Specifically, in the areas of biomedical signal and image processing, MFOL/ICCS is involved in the following areas: diagnostic and therapeutic techniques based on non-ionizing radiation,  modelling and development of microwave hyperthermia systems, medical signal and image processing techniques, application of chaos theory and fractals to biological data and telemedicine. MFOL/ICCS has developed several systems (prototypes) currently used in clinical environments, including hyperthermia systems, a non-ionizing radiation diagnostic system, a novel mammography system, a system for registration and fusion of medical images from different modalities etc. MFOL/ICCS has participated in a number of National and EU funded projects (Telematics, Esprit, SMT, ISIS) and supports an extensive postgraduate education programme (M.S. and Ph.D. Degrees).

Key people

Dr. Irene S. Karanasiou received the Diploma and Ph.D. degrees from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Athens, Greece, in 1999 and 2003, in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Since 1999, she has been a Researcher with the ICCS, NTUA. Her research interests include brain imaging, EEG/ERP measurement and analysis, bioelectromagnetism, and the development of biomedical integrated systems.