Research groups

Advanced MR Neuro imaging. Professor Atle Bjørnerud, PhD
The main focus of the Advanced MR Neuro Imaging (AMRNI) group is in the development of novel MR-based imaging techniques and software tools for improved diagnosis of brain tumours and neurodegenerative disease.

In brain tumour diagnosis, the group has initiated the project: Combined structural, microvascular and functional mapping of brain tumours for improved diagnosis and treatment planning. This is a multi-disciplinary project run by the AMRNI group, but involving both physicists, software engineers, neurosurgeons, neuroradiologists and pathologists. The project has received research grants from both the Norwegian Research Council and Helse Sør.

The AMRNI group is also heading up the imaging part of a MR/PET project called Go/MCI which is part of the MedCoast program. The main objective of the Go/MCI project is to find new bio/imaging markers for vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

The AMRNI group is further involved in many MR-projects where our main focus is on MR sequence optimization and data handling. The group has also developed a large image processing software system (called nordicICE) in collaboration with a Bergen-based company (NordicImagingLab). The software system has been fully integrated into the hospital PACS system and has become an important clinical tool for advanced analysis of MR images.

Image guided neurosurgery. Section manager Torstein Meling MD, PhD
For a number of years the Department of Neurosurgery has used the GE open magnet for MR-guided neurosurgery. There have been substantial developments in technological solutions, and many clinical studies in brain tumour resections, pituitary tumour surgery and brain biopsies have been performed. The open GE-magnet was replaced by a closed bore 3 T MR in 2007, and we started to perform transphenoidal pure endoscopic pituitary surgery in this 3T OR room. The activity will be extended to include brain tumour surgery when all the hardware is installed.

In 2006 we started to perform vascular neurosurgical procedures guided by angiography in our combined angiography-operation suite. The angio-suite was refurbished and fitted with state-of-the-art intraoperative angiography equipment from Siemens in 2007, allowing rotational angiography with 3D representation intraoperatively. This will facilitate our work on vascular neurosurgery guided by angiography.

Main projects in cooperation with the advanced imaging group are:
-A study on whether 3T MRI characteristics can predict pituitary tumour consistency and hence suitability for transspehnoidal resection of macroadenomas.
-Establishing intraoperative tractography/DTI in the 3T MR.

Paediatric cardiac intervention, Section manager Erik Thaulow, MD, PhD
Rikshospitalet has been a prime mover in the Norwegian initiatives to decrease the invasiveness of repair of cardiac defects in children. It is well known that cardiac surgery in the young can contribute to psychological and developmental difficulties which are concern for families of such children. The uses of non-operative methods are desirable to replace surgery, especially those procedures that require heart lung machine and circulatory arrest. Using the combined operating suites and the multi-specialty approach of the Interventional Centre, repair of atrial septal defects has now become a non operative procedure for most Norwegian children. Similarly, some patients with VSD can also be treated in a similar fashion. The IVS is now embarking, as one of the first centers in the world on the non operative replacement of the pulmonic valve in a certain group of children. A comprehensive program of evaluation of short and long term outcomes in these patients as well as cost considerations for individuals and society are under planning. One PhD program is focusing on the patient experiences.

Image guided general surgery and intervention. Section manager Bjørn Edwin MD, PhD
Several new techniques in laparoscopic surgery have been introduced in Norway through this group. Some of the methods are now routine procedures, like laparoscopic adrenalectomy and laparoscopic prostatectomy. The group validates new procedures and establishes effective training. One multi-centre study on the quality of laparoscopic colonsurgery is ongoing.

Education programs in minimal invasive surgery in both gastrointestinal- and urological surgery are organized in collaboration with other hospitals in Norway, Sweden, Russia and Denmark.

The Department of Surgery is one of our main collaborators with research projects ongoing in:
• Minimal invasive surgery on the liver, pancreas, stomach, esophagus, kidney, adrenal gland and colon/rectum
• Minimal invasive techniques in children
• Thermal liver ablation

Two PhD dissertations have been successfully defended, and in 2007 two were ongoing. In a series of studies the monitoring of thermal ablation and the efficacy of this treatment in liver metastasis has been documented. So far two medical dissertations have been completed and one program was ongoing in 2007.

In all, the group had two PhD programs in 2007:
1. Cand. Polit. Marit Andersen: Health related quality of life after kidney graft harvesting. Mentors: Erik Fosse, the Interventional Centre, RR-HF, Berit Rokne Hanestad, Inst. Social Sciences, Univ. of Bergen, Astrid Klopstad Wahl, University College of Oslo
2. Ph.D. research fellow: Airazat M. Kazaryan M.D.: Extracorporeal high intensity focused ultrasound ablation of liver malignancies. Mentors: Bjørn Edwin, M.D., Ph.D., Erik Fosse, M.D., Ph.D. Rikshospitalet, University Oslo

Image guided cardiac surgery and intervention, Section manager Jacob Bergsland, MD
The group conduct numerous projects related to less and minimally invasive cardiac surgery, using alternative imaging as well as thoracoscopy and radiology. An area of priority has been the OPCAB program, which has focused on quality assurance in coronary artery bypass surgery without cardiopulmonary bypass. Although the procedures have been done surgically with direct vision, quality assurance of graft patency has been investigated using flowmetry, ultrasound and angiography. Another new development is the introduction of minimally invasive mitral valve repair, so far using direct vision but with an ultimate plan of introducing a totally thoracoscopic procedure. In adult cardiac intervention a program of ablation therapy in septal hypertrophy is ongoing. A program of interventional repair of the high mortality condition post infarct ventricular septal defect is at the planning stage in co-operation with cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery. A research program for the endovascular repair and replacement of valvular pathology is under preparation.In addition a clinical program of transcatheter implantation of valvular prosthesis in high risk patients with aortic stenosis is under preparation as a cooperative project with Rikshospitalet and Ullevål University Hospital.

One PhD thesis was successfully defended in 2007:
Cand. med. Per Kristian Hol: The importance of angiography and doppler flow measurements in coronary surgery. Mentors: Erik Fosse, The Interventional Centre, Sigurd Nitter-Hauge, Dept Cardiology, Hans Jørgen Smith Dept Radiology, Rikshospitalet.

The group had three ongoing PhD programs in 2007:
1. Cand. Med. Jacob Bergsland: Anastomotic devices in coronary surgery. Mentor: Erik Fosse, Interventional Centre, Jan Ludvig Svennevig, Dept of Cardiovascular Surg., RR-HF
2. Cand. Med. Per Snorre Lingaas: Beating heart coronary surgery-clinical outcomes. Mentor: Erik Fosse, The Interventional Centre, Jan Ludvig Svennevig, Dept of Cardiovascular Surg., RR-HF
3. M.Sc. Lars Mathisen: Health related quality of life after coronary artery bypass surgery. Mentor: Erik Fosse, The Interventional Centre, Berit Rokne Hanestad, Inst. Social Sciences, Univ. of Bergen, Astrid Klopstad Wahl, University College of Oslo

Minimal invasive vascular surgery. Section manager Kirsten Krohg-Sørensen, MD, PhD
The development of minimally invasive vascular surgery has been executed by a multi-speciality group in the combined angio/surgery suite at the Centre. The program has been focused on endovascular treatment of thoracic and abdominal aneurysms using endovascular stenting.

The team led by Kirsten Krohg-Sørensen, has performed repair of thoracic and aortic stent grafts in a highly successful manner. The results have been documented in highly quoted international publications.

One PhD program related to this project is planned. Contacts are being established to expand this program to more complex aortic pathology.

Cardiac imaging, Professor Halfdan Ihlen, MD, PhD /Professor Thor Edvardsen, MD, PhD
Under the leadership of the ECHO group of the Department of Cardiology numerous important discoveries have been made in this field.

The co-operative work on the OPCAB patients has been particularly successful in imaging during ischemia and the detection of non-functional coronary anastomosis. The work has contributed to numerous PhD degrees and international publications. The project was finished and the last study was published in 2007.

The introduction of 3T MRI at the Interventional Centre has already augmented the research efforts in cardiac imaging of structure and function of the heart. Several PhD students have ongoing projects that include cardiac MR and PET-scanning.

The group had 6 ongoing PhD programs in 2007:
1. Cand. Med. Trond Vartdal: Viability in myocardial ischemia. Mentors: Thor Edvardsen / Halfdan Ihlen, the Interventional Centre/Dept of Cardiology, RR-HF
2. Cand. Med. Thomas Helle-Valle: Viability in myocardial ischemia. Mentor: Otto A Smiseth, the Interventional Centre /Dept of Cardiology, RR-HF
3. Cand. Med. Eirik Pettersen: Myocardial function studies. Mentor: Kai Andersen, the Interventional Centre/Dept of Cardiology, RR-HF
4. Cand med. Andreas Espinoza: Miniaturized epicardial ultrasound probes for perioperative myocardial monitoring. Mentors: Thor Edvardsen / Halfdan Ihlen, the Interventional Centre/Dept of Cardiology, RR-HF
5. Cand. Med. Marit Kristine Smedsrud: Myocardial viability in patients with stable angina pectoris. Mentor: Thor Edvardsen, the Interventional Centre/Dept of Cardiology, RR-HF
6. Cand. Med. Ckristian Eek: Diagnostic and therapeutic stratification of patients with acute coronary syndrome (Echo-str-acs)

Endobronchial Procedures, Arve Sundset, MD
This program has become a national program for the interventional bronchoscopy and treatment of airway lesions, including patients with lung cancer obstructing large functional areas of the lungs, patients with benign airway stenosis, and patients with airway complications following lung transplantation. The latest addition to this program is the introduction of EBUS (endobronchial ultrasound), a novel method of mediastinal staging in lung cancer, and diagnostic fine needle aspiration of mediastinal disease. A PhD program related to the program is under preparation.

Image Processing, Visualization and Navigation, Professor Eigil Samset, PhD
Most minimally invasive procedures restrict the access and direct vision to the regions which require surgery. Such procedures require intra-operative image modalities such as ultrasound or endoscopic images to be able to monitor the surgery. In many cases this information is not sufficient to perform the procedure accurately and safely. Merging information acquired pre-operatively, mainly from for instance MRI, CT or PET, with intra-operative data can increase the basis for decisions and thereby improve the safety and accuracy of the procedure. The image processing, visualization and navigation group develops cutting edge technological solutions which support minimally invasive procedures. As the title of the group indicates, the research focus is divided into three areas. Image processing methods are key elements in any software system which supports minimally invasive procedures. In particular, we are focused on developing real-time image-segmentation and - registration methods where segmentation methods finds important anatomical structures such as tumours and vessel structures in images, while registration methods enables fusion of images. Visualization and navigation is required to present the medical images to the surgeon intra-operatively. We are developing visualization systems which use advanced techniques such as augmented reality and volume rendering for this purpose.

The group had four ongoing PhD programs in 2007:
1.    Tangui Morvan (ARIS*ER- Early stage researcher): Development of general purpose algorithms for collision detection using GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), Mentor: Eigil Samset, The Interventional Centre and Martin Reimers, Department of Informatics, University of Oslo
2.    Sergiy Milko (ARIS*ER Early stage researchers): Automatic registration of Ultrasound and CT/MRI images. Mentors: Prof. Eigil Samset, The Interventional Centre and Timor Kadir, Siemens Magnet Technologies
3.    Petter Risholm (MATMED PhD student): Intra-operative deformable registration. Mentor: Prof. Eigil Samset, The Interventional Centre
4.    Eivind Lyche Melvær (MATMED PhD student): Reconstruction of 3D images from free-hand 2D ultrasound. Mentors: Prof. Knut Mørken, CMA/UiO and Prof. Eigil Samset, The Interventional Centre
5.    Egil Bae (MATMED PhD student): Image Segmentation and Reconstruction using level sets and graph cuts. Mentors: Prof. XueCheng Tai, CIPR/UiB and Prof. Eigil Samset, The Interventional Centre

ARIS*ER – Augmented Reality in Surgery, Professor Eigil Samset, PhD
ARIS*ER is a Marie Curie Research Training Network funded by the EU and aims at developing an augmented reality system supporting minimally invasive procedures. In 2007 an innovative solution for improved control of aortic clamping during minimally invasive cardiac surgery was developed and demonstrated. Advanced methods for image processing and visualization for improved RF-ablation was also developed and tested during several user studies.

Other important research results which originate from ARIS*ER are
• Methods for fast and reliable image segmentation of liver structures.
• Visualization tools which enables information filtering.
• Novel navigation tools which improve targeting during needle insertion.
• New methods for performing requirements engineering.
• Methods for registration of MR and US.

A demonstrator that incorporates the different general technology features are developed to communicate with the clinicians. The ARIS*ER research group has in total 8 PhD-programs and 5 Post-docs employed by the 8 different European academic and industrial partners.

MATMED, Professor Eigil Samset, PhD
The project “Mathematical and computational methods for co-registering multi-modal medical images” (MATMED) is funded under the eScience program at the Norwegian Research Council for the period 2007-2011. It is a joint project between the Interventional Centre, Centre for Mathematics and Applications (CMA) at UiO and Center for Integrated Petrolium Research at the University of Bergen and funds three PhD positions.

Medical robotics (Application and control), Section manager Ole Jakob Elle, PhD
Surgical robotics has been a research topic of The Interventional Centre since 1998. The Zeus Micro Joint telemanipulator has been used for animal studies performing coronary bypass-surgery and human trials for thoracoscopic IMA-takedown and sympatectomy.

The robotic group has developed a new head tracking control modality for steering the scope with a robotic scope holder using gyroscope sensors to track the head motion. This resulted in a PhD defended in 2004. In 2005 the research group was strengthened by a PhD fellow, Edvard Nærum, with the research topic of haptic and tactile feedback in remote surgery. This project runs until December 2008.

A post.doc in robotics, Jordi Cornella was employed in June 2006 to develop robotic control strategies with the use of a force sensor. The study is part of the ARIS*ER project and will provide the robotic system with both haptic feedback capabilities and autonomous function by sensing the force between the environment and the robot.

In 2007 a master project on haptic guidance was started. The purpose of the project is to help the surgeon follow an insertion path, e.g. needle insertion, and to provide no-go zones near critical structures based on segmented image data.

Other areas of research are development of collision detection systems and visualisation systems to help and guide the surgeon while doing telemanipulated surgery. The ARIS*ER PhD-student, Tangui Morvan, made a demonstrator of this system in 2006, which was demonstrated at the mid-term review of the ARIS*ER project in December 2006.

In 2006 a cross-disciplinary research collaboration between engineers and surgeons at The Interventional Centre and Department for Neurosurgery at Rikshospitalet University Hospital together with Neurosurgical Department and Department of Neuro Radiology at Ullevål University Hospital and Armstrong Healthcare Ltd., England. The dedicated person at Neurosurgical Department is Jon Ramm- Pettersen, MD (neuro surgeon), at the Interventional Centre, Ole Jakob Elle, PhD (engineer in robotics) and at Armstrong Healthcare Ltd., Patrick Finlay. Hege Fredø at Ullevål University Hospital is dedicated to the project as a PhD student. The project is aimed at precise positioning of a tool within target points in the brain using image guidance and without the use of a stereotactic frame, by use of the neurosurgical PathFinder robot.

The Robotic research group had one Post.doc. in 2007:
1. Dr. Jordi Cornella (ARIS*ER – Experienced Researcher): Integrating haptics with robotic systems and telemanipulators, Mentor: Ole Jakob Elle and Eigil Samset, The Interventional Centre, Rikshospitalet University Hospital

The Robotic research group had two PhD projects running in 2007:
1. M.Sc. Edvard Nærum: Haptic and tactile feedback in remote surgery. Mentor: Ole Jakob Elle and Erik Fosse, The Interventional Centre, Rikshospitalet University Hospital
2. Cand.Med. Hege Fredø: Precise intracranial positioning - Robot controlled tool guidance in Neurosurgery, Mentor:Iver A. Langmoen, Department of Neuro Radiology at Ullevål University Hospital and Ole Jakob Elle, The Interventional Centre, Rikshospitalet University Hospital

The Robotic research group had one Master student in 2007:
1.    Andreas Nygaard: High-level control system for remotely controlled surgical robots - Haptic Guidance in robot assisted surgery, Mentor: Øyvind Stavdal, NTNU, Ole Jakob Elle, and Jordi Cornella, The Interventional Centre, Rikshospitalet University Hospital

Multiple parameters monitoring of muscle tissue using near infrared spectroscopy, Peyman Mirtaheri, PhD
Ischemia is still the most prevalent cause of death in the western world. In many cases the ischemia is reversible and an early detection could lead to appropriate treatment to save the patient’s life. Thus, there is now increasing effort to bring about methods to detect organs in real time. In a collaboration project started in 2007 between Prof. Babs Soller at University of Massachusetts Medical School and the Interventional Centre, we are making a multiple sensory scheme based on Near Infra red light to monitor patients for ischemia without any invasiveness involved.

Collaborators
Boston, USA: Prof. Babs Soller, Prof. Olusola Soyemi, Dr. Michael A. Shear, Dr. Songbiao Zhang

Biosensors, Professor Tor Inge Tønnessen, MD, PhD
The Biosensor research group has three main branches of interest, namely the biologic basis for ischemia and the choice of parameters for detection thereof, the second is the development of a specific pCO2 sensor and the third is developing methods for early detection of rejection in transplant patients. The biologic basis has been studied through animal experiments and we have several ongoing clinical studies. Concerning the development of the sensor IscAlert™, we have collaboration with Alertis Medical AS and Memscap AS. The development of the sensor has now come into a clinical phase where we currently have finished the work on the clinical proof of principle of the sensor and have received CE mark and FDA approval. We are now running two clinical studies to test the sensors ability to detect ischemia in patients at risk of compartment s syndrome. Another study where we put microdialysis catheters in 22 patients undergoing liver transplantation, two catheters in the liver and one catheter subcutaneously has been finished. Every hour metabolic parameters of ischemia were measured and every four hours we collected analyses for measuring cytokines and complement factors for detection of rejection. We found that the method has the ability to detect ischemia caused by thrombosis of the hepatic artery, and that an increase in IL-8, IP-10 and C5a detects a rejection of the liver 2 - 4 days earlier than methods currently used.

1. Cand. Med. Berit Dahl: Clinical application of PCO2 measurements for the detection of ischemia. Mentor: Tor Inge Tønnessen, the Interventional Centre/Dept of Anaesthesiology, RR-HF
2. Cand. Med. Lars Wælgaard: New clinical methods for detection of ischemia Mentor: Tor Inge Tønnessen, the Interventional Centre/Dept of Anaesthesiology, RR-HF

Medical sensors, Professor Erik Fosse, MD, PhD
The Interventional Centre is co-ordinating a joint project called “Micro- Heart” for detection of motion changes of the heart surface. The goal is to develop a system for early detection of ischemia through continuous per- and post-operative monitoring using a 3-axis accelerometer for patients undergoing coronary revascularization (Patent number: NO 20016385). The “Micro- Heart” project is in close collaboration with Vestfold University College in Tønsberg. The Interventional Centre is responsible for the clinical research activity, and both an animal study and a human study are ongoing to verify the sensitivity and specificity of the detection method. Vestfold University is responsible for miniaturizing a three-axis accelerometer for incorporation into a temporary pace-maker electrode. The project is partly financed by the Research Council of Norway (NRC) with 4 PhD scholarships at Vestfold University College.

Together with the Department of Clinical Engineering, professor Sverre Grimnes this group was also involved in the development of a sensor for measuring the sweat production in different parts of the body by a bioimpedance technique.

1. Cand. Scient Lars Fleischer: Accelerator sensor data for monitoring cardiac ischemia and function. Mentors Erik Fosse, Ole Jakob Elle, The Interventional Centre, RR-HF, Lars Hoff Vestfold University College, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Horten
2. Cand. Med. Steinar Halvorsen: Basic and clinical studies on cardiac ischemia by biosensors. Mentors: Erik Fosse and Tor Inge Tønnessen, the Interventional Centre/Dept of Anaesthesiology, RR-HF
3. Stud med. Gaute Gjein Evaluation of patients with hyperhidrosis. Mentor: Erik Fosse, The Interventional Centre, RR-HF
4. Christian Trondstad. Development of a sensor for sweat measurement. Mentor: Sverre Grimnes dept of Clinical Egineering.

Wireless sensor networks, Professor Ilangko Balasingham, PhD
The sensors, signals, and systems research group aims to facilitate deployment intelligent sensors and systems for different procedures in surgery, minimal invasive therapy and ambient point of care monitoring. The main focus area of research is in efficient design and development of novel sensors, power efficient real time signal processing algorithms, sensor data fusion, and wireless communication solutions for in vivo and ex vivo purposes. Some of our activities are on designing novel optical sensors to measure pH and medical radar based on ultra wide band impulse electromagnetic signals to measure blood pressure, blood flow and tissue/organ motions. Furthermore, novel signal processing algorithms to facilitate power efficient processing of digital data in sensors, which are popularly called as sensor nodes in wireless communications networks. The digital sensor data fusion and multi paramter analysis are also active areas of research. We are working to design reliable, power efficient and robust wireless body area sensor networks for in vivo (implantable) and ex vivo use.

We have a close collaboration with the Department of Electronics and Telecommunications at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim and several national and international research institutions and companies participate in different projects. Collaboration with the Nordic academic and industry has been through the Nordic project on Biomedical Wireless Sensor Network (BWSN). Furthermore, we have established contacts with Prof. Anders Rydberg at the Uppsala University, Sweden and Prof. Hannu Kattelus at VTT in Finland. The research group participated in 3 EU FP7 project proposals, where the project ULTRAsponder was selected for funding by the EU. This project is for 3 years and will start from September 2008. Furthermore, the research group has established collaboration with the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) and the Nanoelectrnonics group at the Department of Informatics, University of Oslo. This consortium submitted a STORIKT-project proposal on Medical Sensing, Localization, and Communication using Ultra Wideband Technology (MELODY) to the VERDIKT program at the Research Council of Norway. The project has been selected for funding for 7 years and will start from September 2008. The project will have 7 PhD and 3 Postdoc fellows, where 3 PhD fellows will be located at NTNU in Trondheim while the rest will be in Oslo,

There is also an effort to establish a testbed for designing, developing and testing new technologies in sensors and wireless systems at the Interventional Centre in collaboration with SINTEF and industry. A pilot study on establishing a testbed is underway.

A resource network group on Wireless Healthcare (Trådløs pasient) has been established funded, in part, by the VERDIKT program at the Research Council of Norway, Oslo Bio and MedCoast Scandinavia. The aim of the group is to define roadmap and R&D strategy to facilitate use of wireless and sensor technologies to provide personalized health and care in a ubiquitous manner. It also aims to bring together academia and industry, and also inform different ministries about similar initiatives in the Nordic and European arenas.

The research group, which is split between Oslo and Trondheim, has presently six PhD fellows, two Post doctoral fellows, and one Research Engineer (Lars Erik Solberg) employed through the projects. Vegard Nossum has joined the group as a Programmer and works part time. Dr. Sang-Seon Byun joined as a Postdoc fellow for one year and is located at NTNU in Trondheim. His project on Cognitive systems is funded by the ERCIM program within the EU. PhD student David Turgis is visiting for one year from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium and will be located at NTNU in Trondheim. Six MSc students completed with their theses and graduated from NTNU. Two researchers from SINTEF in Trondheim and Norwegian Computing Centre in Oslo are working, in part, in the SAMPOS and WISENET projects.

In 2007 this group had 6 PhD programs:

1.    MSc. Xuedong Liang: Modelling tools for cross layer optimization in sensor networks. Mentor: Ilangko Balasingham, the Interventional Centre, RHF, Olaf Owe & Einar Broch Johansen, University of Oslo

2.    MSc. Stig Støa: Ultra wide band impulse radio Mentor: Ilangko Balasingham, the Interventional Centre, RHF

3.    MSc Hessam Moussavinik: Super robust short range wireless sensor network. Mentor: Ilangko Balasingham, the Interventional Centre, RHF, Geir Øien & Tor Ramstad. Norwegian University of Science & Technology, and Niels Aakvaag, Multihop Com AS

4.    MSc Pham Minh Long: Distributed signal processing for power efficiency. Mentor: Tor Ramstad, Norwegian University of Science & Technology and Ilangko Balasingham, the Interventional Centre, RHF

5.    MSc. Mariam Kaynia: Adaptive spectrum allocation in wireless sensor network. Mentor: Geir Øien & Tor Ramstad. Norwegian University of Science & Technology and Ilangko Balasingham, the Interventional Centre, RHF

6.    MSc Arash Jalali-Ghombavani: Modelling tools and optimization of wireless sensor network Mentor: Ilangko Balasingham, the Interventional Centre, RHF, Olaf Owe & Einar Broch Johansen, University of Oslo

In 2007 the group had two Post-docs:
1.    Dr. Peyman Mirtaheri: Development of Multi-sensor probe: Mentor: Ilangko Balasingham, Ole Jakob Elle, Tor Inge Tønnessen, the Interventional Centre, RHF, Jaan Roots, Department of Chemistry, University of Oslo

2.    Dr. Sang-Seon Byun: Development of Cognitive wireless sensor networks: Mentor: Ilangko Balasingham, the Interventional Centre, RHF and Norwegian University of Science & Technology.

Patient communication, Professor Erik Fosse, MD, PhD
As part of a program to make the journal available to the patients, a program for automatic translation of medical terms into common Norwegian is being developed. One master thesis has so far been completed in this project.

Organisation, Professor Erik Fosse, MD, PhD
The Interventional Centre co-operated with the Institute for Informatics and The Institute for Health Management and Health Economics at the University of Oslo, as well with the Norwegian School of Management (BI) in a research project focusing on the relationship between innovation, learning, technology and organizational change processes.
One PhD project was running as part of this program in 2007.
Cand. Polit. Bjørn Erik Mørk: Organising for learning and innovation in Norwegian hospitals – How new technologies challenge existing organizational structures and cultures. Mentors: Erik Fosse, the Interventional Centre, RR-HF, Johan Olaisen Norwegian School of Management Oslo, Terje Hagen, Institute for Health Management and Health Economy, University of Oslo.

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Donations to Medical Research

The Interventional Centre receives donations to medical research. Questions related to donations can be sent to head of department professor Erik Fosse.