UCF computer science major Julia Moras knows firsthand about living with epilepsy. Now, through a new interdisciplinary education and research effort, she’s examining through her undergraduate honors thesis how artificial intelligence (AI) might help fellow patients better predict an epileptic seizure.
“I am on the receiving end of care for this disease. I want to be part of improving care for all of us who deal with epilepsy.” — Julia Moras, student
Moras is part of new UCF research and educational opportunities created by Laura Brattain, a biomedical engineer by training who is integrating AI, medical ultrasound and surgical robotics to create healthcare innovations that improve patient care.
As an associate professor at UCF’s College of Medicine and a member of UCF’s new Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Brattain holds secondary positions in the College of Engineering and Computer Science. She is offering a newly revitalized Introduction to Medical Robotics course that is part of a new master’s program in robotics and autonomous systems. Those educational opportunities are also expanding research opportunities.
During a recent gathering, Brattain and her students — UCF undergraduates, master’s and doctoral candidates — demonstrated the promise AI and medical robotics have for patient care.
“My hope is that students come away from this course with not only a solid understanding of how robotics and AI are transforming medicine, but also a sense of creativity and purpose — seeing themselves as future innovators who can bridge engineering and healthcare to improve patient outcomes,” Brattain says.
“With the advances in AI and hardware acceleration, medical robotics is going to be one of the next frontiers in healthcare innovation.” — Laura Brattain, associate professor
The Promise of Technology
As part of the new class, students are using AI to program a small medical robot to recognize anatomical structures in medical images. For example, the robot’s probe can recognize the difference between soft tissue and bone in the human body. With the probe, you can feel the softness of human tissue and the hardness of bone as the probe enters each.
Such robots could provide needed care in rural and isolated areas, Brattain explains. A surgeon miles or even countries away could direct the robot with his or her hands to perform surgery.
M. Iffat Hossain is a UCF graduate student studying computing engineering. He says Brattain’s class has opened his eyes to ways engineers and physicians can work together.
In another lab, UCF students and Brattain show the use of ultrasound technology to improve care. There, they are programming a small, handheld ultrasound machine that can provide medical imaging rather than rely on the large ultrasound machines used in hospital and established clinical settings.
One of her students uses a wireless ultrasound probe on his arm to track the median nerve using AI. Patients with carpal tunnel syndrome often require surgery or nerve blockers injected into that nerve to relieve their pain. AI-driven ultrasound technology can improve outcomes of such procedures and increase access to care, she says.
Her research is also studying the use of AI and ultrasound to better diagnose breast cancer with less invasive procedures for patients. Currently, a certain percentage of patients with a suspected tumor undergo surgical biopsies, where a piece of the tumor is surgically removed for testing.
What if AI and ultrasound imaging could better differentiate between benign vs. malignant tumors, thus reducing the need for surgical biopsies?
What if technology could provide a less invasive and more cost-effective way to keep track of breast cancer progression and reduce the reliance on mammograms and MRIs?
“If we could use AI and medical ultrasound technology to safely reduce surgical biopsies by even 20%, that would mean improved quality of life to many women, including younger women.”
UCF Students Are Inspired
Farhan Fuad Abir is a UCF computer engineering doctoral candidate working on the breast cancer AI research. His mother is a breast cancer survivor.
“I want to create technology that serves humankind.” — Computer Engineering Ph.D. Candidate Farhan Fuad Abir
“The opportunity to use my skills to create technology to help people like my mother is powerful,” he says.
Engineering and computer science students say the medical robotics course has inspired them on new ways to use their skills while simultaneously increasing the potential of job opportunities linking engineering, computer science and healthcare.
Daryl Docteur was inspired to return to school after what he saw firsthand while working as a nurse in assisted living centers in Miami. He says as a health provider, he became enthralled with the innovative technology being developed to improve patient care and decided to come to UCF to pursue his master’s degree in computer science to further his training.
“I want to be part of the solution,” he says. “I want to create technology that serves humankind.”
