The 42nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC) was scheduled to happen in Montreal, Canada, in July 2020. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the conference was converted into a virtual conference hosted at EMBS Virtual Academy platform. In this conference I was able to present two distinct parts of the work I have been conducting during my PhD.
I recorded a 10-minute presentation video about my paper “Study of the Refraction Effects in Microwave Breast Imaging Using a Dry Setup” which was included on a session regarding “Novel Imaging Modalities”. My research group has assessed the feasibility of using a dry setup for Microwave Breast Imaging, where the antennas and the body are placed in air instead of immersed in a dense liquid. In this paper, we presented preliminary results regarding whether refraction at the air/dielectric interface affects or not the quality of imaging results.
Additionally, I had the opportunity to give a joint presentation with my supervisor Raquel Conceição in the mini-symposium “MICROWAVES in BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS – PART I: Breast Cancer Detection and Monitoring” where we presented our work regarding “Axillary Region Numerical Models for a Microwave Imaging System”. In this work, we presented a methodology to create axillary region numerical models including axillary lymph nodes from MR breast images and assign the corresponding dielectric properties to each tissue. This work is an important contribution to the validation of a Microwave Imaging system to detect axillary lymph nodes.
The communication and engagement at a virtual conference is much more limited than at a physical one. Nonetheless, watching other researchers’ presentations was also a rewarding experience. I was able to learn more about what other groups working on MWI are developing, as well as match faces and voices to names I have found several times on research papers, which is always personal and professionally gratifying. I was also able to watch some presentations out of scope of my research but which are related to healthcare topics I am also interested in.
I am glad to have had the opportunity to attend this conference, make my work more visible to others and learn more about distinct topics within the scope of biomedical engineering. I would like to thank the COST Action CA17115 for awarding me this ITC conference grant and making this experience possible.
Daniela Godinho
