June 2020

ISB Now - June 2020

ISB News

President's Blog - Toni Arndt

Students Corner  - Megan Stewart

South America Representative Report - Felipe Carpes

Outside ISB and Technical Group News

Motor Control Technical Group

Footwear Biomechanics Group

3D Analysis of Human Movement Technical Group

Comparative Neuromuscular Biomechanics Working Group

A word from our Sponsors

Delsys 

President's Blog - June 2020

I clearly remember writing my last blog and thinking that I was writing words of support during a World situation that, despite its catastrophic results, would be short-lived and temporary and that our lives and work would have returned to normal by now. How wrong I was. It is now apparent that we cannot see the end of this and we do not know what the final consequences will be. There is not one of us that has not been and is not still affected by the Covid-19 virus. Regretfully some will have lost family or friends and my deepest condolences go out to you who have suffered such tragedies. All of us have had our daily routines and scientific plans disrupted. Many national and international conferences, at which we had been looking forward to absorbing new biomechanical knowledge and presenting our own research results for an inquisitive and educated audience, where students could be inspired by top biomechanists, all of them have been cancelled or postponed. Research visits to collaborators and laboratories around the World have been cancelled or disrupted. International travel has in an astounding manner ground to an unprecedented halt. 

Of course this is not how I imagined my first year as President of ISB, and I would be lying to say it is not frustrating. But that doesn’t help! We all need to get through this together, stay positive and supportive of one another. The forced restriction of extensive mobility also opens up new opportunities. Our university has in the last weeks had a phenomenal learning curve in innovatively producing teaching material and student examinations and conducting meetings and scientific collaboration on digital platforms. Internationalisation has in a unique manner fascinatingly increased due to a heightened acceptance of talking to two-dimensional, digital versions of each other. Some conferences, for example the International Society of Electrophysiology and Kinesiology (ISEK) congress, are moving to completely digital platforms and it will be exciting to see the results of this! I assume many others will do likewise.

At the same time planning of the XXVIII ISB Congress in Stockholm 2021 is progressing well. Hopefully all international travel will be possible again by then and it can be a festive occasion where we can all meet our international friends again, maybe for the first time in a painfully long time.

Please take care and be nice!

Toni Arndt (ISB President) 

In these times of reflection and restricted travel it is fitting to gain a greater appreciation of the beauty of the World closer to home. A field of flowering rape on a bike ride, a kayak trip with my wife on a local lake.

Student's Corner - Megan Stewart (ISB Student Representative)

Overview

I hope that everyone is having a great Summer (or Winter for southern hempisphere) and enjoying life slowing down a bit over the last few months. Much has taken place over the past couple months and I have abundant optimism that all of you are doing well and staying safe!

The call for abstracts for ISB 2021 has opened!! I hope you all are as excited as I am for this upcoming conference! The abstract submission will be open until January 31, 2021, so let’s all get working on new, fun, interesting research ideas! J  If you would like to discuss some potential ideas or have any further questions regarding the abstract submission process, please send me an email, message me on Facebook or Twitter, and I will help you out!

We have some great ideas for both the student event at ISB 2021 and the mentoring event! Be on the lookout for more information as the date gets closer! I cannot wait to see all of you in Stockholm!

Get ready for ISB 2021 in Stockholm!

Events

July 12^th-14^th, 2020: International Society of Electromyography and Kinesiology (Virtual Conference)

August 4^th-7^th, 2020: American Society of Biomechanics Annual Conference (Virtual Conference)

Information

For any and all graduate positions and employment, remember to stay up to date with Biomch-L.

Here is the link:  https://biomch-l.isbweb.org/forums/5-Jobs-and-Positions

Biomechanics on our Minds (BOOM) Podcast

• Episode 28: Chimps and Modelling and Peer Review, Oh My!
• Episode 27: These Women were Made for Walking
• Episode 26: Good Research and Internationalization

Social Media

Be sure to keep up to date with ISB by liking our ISB Facebook Page, joining the Student Members Facebook Page, and following ISB on Twitter. Please reach out to me with any comments, questions, suggestions, or just to talk. You can contact me at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Best Wishes,

Megan Stewart (ISB Student Representative)

South America Representative Report - Felipe Carpes

Report from Felipe P Carpes (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

The COVID-19 pandemic is still affecting the countries from South America. The different countries assumed different official positions to fight the infection of the people. In general, classes are suspended and universities are closed for students. Many professors move their attention and energy to act against the pandemic, which include support to families with financial issues, work in the hospital and also developing strategies to create devices that are important in this reality of the pandemic, like low cost ventilators and equipment for individual protection. All the academic events have been cancelled or postponed to late in 2020 or 2021, when a more stable condition is expected.

Research activities still going on using online facilities, but undergraduate lectures stopped in most of the universities. The main reason to not move all education to an online environment is the fact that a significant amount of students, especially those from public institutions, don't have full access to fast Internet at their homes. Most of internet access is by mobile phones and not all students have a computer to work at home. Despite that, many families are now sharing the house for home office work as well, with a significant increase of the family duties, in addition to the economic crises. Universities that are able to connect online with all students are adapting the classes for an online approach. The impact of this pandemic on education is yet to be discovered.

Among all the difficulties, there is something good to observe. People are now much more open to share data, to donate time, and to share knowledge. Social media has been fulfilled of biomechanics contents for free with webinars, classes, guest lectures and crash courses that surely will benefit EDC students and at least minimize the large negative impact we will all feel even more when able to return to our regular activities.

People are now saying that nothing will be like before when the pandemic is over, and we really hope this is true. Maybe the pandemic will serve to change the way we consider the importance of our work and promote a re-evaluation of the importance of share and take care of colleagues and students from different places, nations, and economical and social conditions.

Updates on events previously advertised:

Brazil

7^th International Foot & Ankle Biomechanics meeting

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was postponed to April 11-14, 2021. To learn more about the event visit https://www.i-fab2020.com

Muscle Physiology Symposium

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was postponed by the specific date was not defined yet. It will probably happen late in November. To learn more about the event visit https://sites.unipampa.edu.br/gnap/muscle-physiology-symposium/

XI Applied Neuromechanics Symposium

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual event that combines topics of biomechanics, motor control, physiology and neurosciences was postponed to 2021 and will happen together with the Brazilian Congress of Biomechanics.

Chile

Hackathon, transforming data for a better understanding of the human movement

The Chilean Association of Movement Sciences (ACCM) together with the Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación (UMCE) carried out a joint activity called "Hackathon, Transforming data for a better understanding of the human movement" during the past 2019. This consisted of a series of 5 theoretical-practical sessions of relevant topics to the study of the human movement. Participants visualized central and basic theoretical aspects of different topics, and subsequently worked with data series, processing data and obtaining the results. The data analysis was carried out in 3 languages ​​as appropriate, "R", "Python" and "Matlab", so that the participants had a direct approximation with the analysis techniques, losing the "fear" to code and carrying home a precise and bounded tool. The topics covered were the following: Basic topics of signal processing, COM Processing and Acceleration Analysis for the study of static and dynamic Balance, Machine learning for the identification of movement patterns, Biomarkers of motor control using EEG and Regression Models for the analysis of motor behavior. In addition, a sixth final session was scheduled for the month of October with the International guest Professor Dr. Luis Mochizuki, from Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil, to gather around the theme of "Advanced tool for the study of motor behavior". Unfortunately, due to the political-social contingency that we are living in Chile and people may have heard about in the news, we had to suspend this last activity, hoping to promote it during the present year 2020. The specific date still not available due to the critical condition of Chile under the COVID-19 pandemic

Colombia

Biomechanics community from Cali invites all to the VII Seminario Internacional de Actualización Biomédica that will happen in Cali on November 28-30, 2020. This event is organized by the Universidad Autónoma de Occidente and other collaboration institution with the purpose to show to the university community the importance of biomedical engineering and its applications in the context of health and engineering. The event also wants to promote national and international cooperation in the different areas related to biomedical engineering.

Motor Control Technical Group

It is our pleasure to announce that our 2020 symposia, which were cancelled due to the COVID-19 emergency, will be offered again in 2021. In addition, we are also excited to take part in the next meeting of ISB in Stockholm in July 2021.

Who Should Attend: Researchers and students with an interest in Biomechanics and Motor Control should attend. Participants will have the opportunity to discover the latest developments in these fields and discuss with experienced investigators.

Details will be posted soon on our website http://www.mcg.isbweb.org/.

Stay safe in these uncertain times and we look forward to seeing you at these events.

Sincerely,
ISB Technical Group in Motor Control

Footwear Biomechanics Group - New website

The Footwear Biomechanics Group is proud to announce the opening of our new website.

Please check it out - https://www.footwearbiomechanics.org/

3D-AHM Group

In these uncertain times, we want to do our part to inhibit the spread of COVID-19. Therefore, out of an abundance of caution, the 16th (2020) International Symposium of 3-D Analysis of Human Movement has been postponed to May 23-26, 2021. We believe in the importance of face-to-face interaction, spontaneous discussion, and the community that this symposium provides.  We look forward to seeing you, our colleagues, for this unique event.  May is one of the most beautiful times of the year on the Iowa State University campus, and we look forward to sharing this beautiful setting, opportunities for learning and discussion, in Ames IA, next May. With this additional planning time, opportunities will be made available to update your research, submit new initiatives, and we will plan for a safe and enjoyable experience. Please stay tuned for more information about the event (https://register.extension.iastate.edu/movement), and mark your calendars to be a part of it! For questions or concerns, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you in May 2021!

Comparative Neuromuscular Biomechanics Working Group

Our workshop ‘Integrative Muscle Modelling for Neuromechanics’ originally scheduled for August 2020 will proceed as a virtual workshop at a time to be determined. In this workshop, we will aim to bring together scientists from clinical, biological and engineering backgrounds with a shared interest in developing, validating, and using muscle models informed with experimental data.

The format of the workshop will be a small, interactive single-track session of 50-75 participants. In the virtual format, we will aim to integrate both synchronous and asynchronous components, by recording presentations and including an interactive Q&A chat function that stays open for extended periods, so you can converse with those in different time zones without having to be present at a narrowly defined time. Further details and an open call for participants will be available soon on the CNB website: https://sites.psu.edu/cnbgroup/.

Please sign up for the CNB email list https://sites.psu.edu/cnbgroup/join/ and follow us on Twitter at @CNBiomechanics to receive announcements about this and other upcoming activities.

Our next in person meeting is planned for ISB 2021. CNB has recently secured support from the Company of Biologists to support early career participants attending our next in-person workshop at ISB2021.

A word from our Sponsors - Delsys

Delsys is more than a medical device company.

Delsys is part of the Endeavor family - consisting of Delsys, Altec and De Luca Foundation.

Delsys builds hardware & software for movement science researchers, including Trigno Mobile, Trigno Lite, Trigno Avanti Research Plus, Trigno Maize System, Trigno NeuroMap, Oxygen Sensor and Bend Sensor

• Altec explores cutting-edge ideas in movement science through federally funded research projects
• De Luca Foundation provides steadfast support to the movement science community, including over $1.1 million to students, scientists, and institutions

Together, we are helping the movement science community move forward.