Simona Gandah

Industrial PhD scholarship funded by MEDICA s.p.a

• Design and characterization of intraluminal medical devices
• Signal processing and data analysis
• Development of IoT applications
• Collaboration in the EU-H2020 project "ODIN: Leveraging AI based technology to transform the future of health care delivery in Leading Hospitals in Europe"
• Firmware development of IoT devices and integration of cloud connected software architectures
• Electronic design of custom Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs)
• Tests and validation of Robotic Operating System (ROS) -based mobile robot navigation
• Experimental validation of robotic platforms in hospital pilot study - Technical coordinator of two pilots (UMC,Utrecht; Netherlands and KCLH, Dubai, United Arab Emirates)

• Design and characterization of a soft, fully actuated gastrointestinal robotics platform for in vitro testing.
• Development of soft piezoresistive pressure sensors to enable haptic feedback and gesture recognition.

• Design and characterization of high-resolution catheters for esophageal manometry (DHRY project in collaboration with MEDICA s.p.a)
• Firmware development for IoT devices (ODIN: Leveraging AI based technology to transform the future of health care delivery in Leading Hospitals in Europe - EU-H2020 project)

• Learning Robot Operating System (ROS) on da Vinci Research Kit (dVRK)
• Development of sensorized device (wristband) for the robot tool to integrate it into a sensorized manikin for surgical training
• Creation of a simple graphic overlay for visual feedback
• Skills acquired: ROS, Machine learning, Open cv, da Vinci Research Kit (dVRK configuration)

• Activism and crowdfunding for an NGO in the field of environment and cultural heritage protection
• Public relations with local partners
• Collaboration in the submission of a project proposal for the EU joint program "Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA)". The consortium was made by seven partners from different countries in the Mediterranean area

• Mechanical characterization of human meniscal tissue through experimental tests of confined compression and mapping of the mechanical properties.
• Literature research for scientific review about meniscal tissue
• Skills acquired: expertise in the experimental protocol for indentation and confined compression on human meniscal tissue, expertise in the safety and setup of experimental tests in the Medical Technologies Lab