This article is from the archives of the UB Reporter.
News

Briefs

Published: July 28, 2011

  • Neurosurgery offers brain endoscopy course

    Neurosurgical residents, fellows and attending neurosurgeons interested in minimally invasive endoscopic surgery of the brain will gather in Buffalo this weekend for the fifth annual Brain Endoscopy Course, a continuing medical education-accredited course sponsored by the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

    Walter Grand, professor of neurosurgery, director of the Brain Endoscopy Center and one of the course lecturers, describes endoscopes as tubular-lens devices with a miniature camera that allow neurosurgeons to operate on the brain through a small opening to see anatomical structures and perform surgery with a high-resolution video image.

    “Surgeons use endoscopes to perform minimally invasive procedures,” he says. “Their appropriate usage in neurosurgery can do much to reduce patient discomfort, recovery time, hospital stays and overall health care costs. In addition, it allows us to reach deep areas of the brain not accessible by previous techniques in neurosurgery.”

    UB Neurosurgery is one of a limited number of neurosurgery programs in North America qualified to provide advanced neuro-endoscopic training.

    During lectures and practical cadaver lab sessions, course participants will become familiar with intracranial and transnasal endoscopic equipment, gaining the knowledge and technical skill sets necessary to perform the endoscopic procedures in their own practices.

    “This method of surgery is particularly appealing to patients, as incisions are small and cosmetic, and tissue disruption is drastically minimized, as compared to conventional, open surgical procedures,” Grand explains. “As a result, post-operative pain and recovery time are significantly decreased.”

    In addition to Grand, UB faculty members serving as instructors are Jody Leonardo, assistant professor of neurosurgery, and Veetai Li, clinical associate professor of neurosurgery.

  • Cyber engineering workshop to be held

    Local female high school students entering grades 10-12 will take part next month in a Cyber Engineering Workshop for Young Women to explore all the opportunities that the world of engineering has to offer.

    The workshop, to be held Aug. 15-19, is run by the New York State Center for Engineering Design and Industrial Innovation (NYSCEDII), part of the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

    The workshop will introduce the engineering-design process to students, who will gain hands-on experience using engineering tools and a better understanding of the wide array of job opportunities in the field of engineering.

    Students come from 12 different high schools: Akron, Barker, Clarence, Holy Angels Academy, Lake Shore, Mt. Mercy, Mt. St. Mary, Nardin Academy, Orchard Park, Starpoint, Tapestry Charter and Williamsville North.

    “Our focus is on educating the young women about the options that exist in the different fields of engineering, while at the same time providing engaging experiences that demonstrate how engineering can be an exciting field,” says workshop director Ken English, deputy director of NYSCEDII and an adjunct assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

    This year’s workshop will focus on transportation simulation and is funded in part by grants from the University Transportation Research Center - Region 2, Fisher-Price, Moog and Praxair. Students will work with simulations of the traffic on UB’s North Campus, and also will use NYSCEDII’s driving simulator to run vehicle dynamics experiments to explore how a car interacts with the road.

    The driving simulator consists of a “car” mounted on a six-degree-of-freedom motion base that realistically simulates the sensations of turning, braking and traveling uphill or downhill. The cabin is outfitted with high-performance simulation controls, such as a steering wheel, accelerator, brake and clutch pedals, all of which combine to make the experience extremely authentic. While the platform is moving, four 10-by-8-foot display screens surround the car, simulating the world that the drivers are experiencing.