News of the Department of Biomedical Physics and Technology (BMPT) in 2018

PhD Degree

The following three students successfully received PhD degrees against their respective theses mentioned below, in 2018.

1. Dr. Abdullah Al Amin, “Development of Electrical Control System through Human Brain Signal Analysis”. Supervised by Professor K Siddique-e Rabbani of BMPT, Dhaka University.
2. Dr. Md Abdul Kadir, “Development of a Multi-Frequency System  for Medical Application of  Focused Impedance Method (FIM)”, Jointly supervised by Professor K Siddique-e Rabbani and Professor Adrian J Wilson of Warwick University, UK under a Commonwealth Split-site Scholarship.
3. Zihad Tarafdar, “Software Development for a Secure Telemedicine System for Slow Internet Connectivity”, Jointly supervised by Professor K Siddique-e Rabbani and Professor Shabbir Ahmed of the Department of CSE, University of Dhaka.

International Grant

BMPT received an amount of SEK 500,000 as research grant for its research projects for 2018 from International Science Programme (ISP), Uppsala University, Sweden. BMPT has been receiving research grants from ISP continuously since 2011.

Institution of ‘Marie Curie Scholarship’ for PhD

BMPT instituted a new scholarship named, ‘Marie Curie Scholarship’ with a special grant of SEK 30,000 under Gender balance programme of ISP, Uppsala University, Sweden. Ms. Rashida Haque, who secured the highest marks in her MS examination under the department in 2017 has joined as a PhD researcher under the supervision of Dr. Md Abdul Kadir and Professor K Siddique-e Rabbani of the department in 2018. The title for her thesis is, ‘Breast Tumor Characterization using Electrical Impedance Techniques’. She will be working on the application of Focused Impedance Method (FIM) and Pigeon Hole Imaging (PHI), two innovations of the department, for non-invasive characterisation of breast tumours, whether it is benign or malignant.

K L Rabbani-Najmon Nesa Memorial Scholarship

Based on excellent performance in MS examination, Ms. Anila Pasha (BME stream) and Ms. Tabinda Basharat (MP stream) were awarded the above Scholarship of the department. Cheques were handed over by Professor Md Akhtaruzzaman, Vice Chancellor of the University of Dhaka, at a simple ceremony on 21 October, 2018.

Appointment as Honorary Professor

Professor K Siddique-e Rabbani, who retired in 2015, was appointed as an ‘Honorary Professor’ of the department for the session 2018-2019. He has been in this contract position since 2016.

International Collaboration

1. Dr. Youssoufa Mohammadou, Lecturer, Université des Montagnes, Bangangte, Cameroon spent three months at BMPT, University of Dhaka in 2017 and is continuing on a research collaboration on Focused Impedance Method (FIM) and Telemedicine.
2. Professor K Siddique-e Rabbani is supervising two students of Tribhuvan University, Nepal, Mr. Trilochan Khanal and Mr. Tirtha Shah for their MS thesis. They are working on the development of instrumentation of Focused Impedance Method (FIM), an innovation of BMPT, and bio-electrical measurement using the developed instrument.
3. Professor K Siddique-e Rabbani is the Coordinator for the Bangladesh segment of a joint research project between Uppsala University, Karolinska Institute, both of Sweden, and the University of Dhaka. The departments of Microbiology and Botany are involved in this joint project entitled, “Evaluation of virus retentive filter paper for water treatment and clinical applications in real life studies in Bangladesh”, which is aimed to grow a particular variety of algae, making paper nano-filters out of this algae and testing for the removal of bacteria and virus from water samples. The project is funded by Swedish Research Council.

Telemedicine Programme

About 70% of Bangladesh population live in villages where there are no doctors. Therefore, Telemedicine appears to be the only solution for these people through which they can consult qualified doctors living in cities. With this vision, the department initiated R&D in telemedicine system technology in 2011, developing necessary software and hardware for online digital devices like stethoscope and ECG, all web based. After two years of successful field trial during 2013-2015 it started deploying telemedicine throughout Bangladesh through its own deployment model under the banner, ‘Dhaka University Telemedicine Programme (DUTP)’ taking necessary permission of the Government and of the University. The whole programme, both R&D and deployment, was carried out under the leadership of Professor K Siddique-e Rabbani. Dr. Abdullah Al Amin, Dr. Zihad Tarafdar, Mr. Ahmed Imtiaz Khan were mainly involved in the development of the technology supported by a host of junior researchers. Mr. Md Abu Yousuf has been working as the Programme Co-ordinator. Access to Information (a2i) programme of Bangladesh Government provided financial support during 2015-2016 and continues to promote this project. At present there are about 40 rural centres served by 15 doctors from their own places of choice, using either a PC or a Smartphone. More than 17,000 patient consultations have been provided so far. Recently, organisations like CRP and BRAC have joined DUTP for extending their services through telemedicine. In the almost 100 year history of the University of Dhaka, this is probably the first time that a technology developed at the University has reached out to the common people directly in such a big scale.

 

Award in Telemedicine

 

‘Dhaka University Telemedicine Programme (DUTP)’, organised by the department under the leadership of Professor K Siddique-e Rabbani, became the winning project with the heading ‘Telemedicine-Bangladesh’ at the 3^rd Commonwealth Digital Health Awards-2018, in the ‘Telemedicine’ category. Participants from 42 countries competed in 6 categories. It was a remarkable evening for Bangladesh at a gorgeous ceremony in Colombo on 12 October, 2018, where the ‘Runners Up’ award in the same category also came to Bangladesh, won by ‘Tonic’ project of Telenor-Grameenphone.

It is worth mentioning that DUTP became the winner in BRAC-Manthan award 2016 in Bangladesh, Finalist in Manthan South Asia Award-2016 in India, and a Champion at World Summit of Information Societies Forum Award (WSIS-2017) in Geneva (through a2i).

Summer Camp-2018

In collaboration with Dhaka University Science Society (DUSS) and Relevant Science & Technology Society-Bangladesh (RSTS), BMPT Department organised a summer camp during July 8 to July 12, 2018 on the “Measurement of Bioelectrical signals from the human body”. Twelve undergraduate students were selected who had both theoretical classes and hands on practice on the design and development of circuitry to record and display ECG and EMG signals. The participants were given a certificate at the end of the camp.

‘Science for Mankind’ Research Award -2018

BMPT department in collaboration with EMK (Edward M Kennedy) Center, Dhaka initiated a research award for undergraduate students in 2018 entitled, “মানুষের জন্য বিজ্ঞান (in Bangla, meaning ‘Science for Mankind’). DUSS and RSTS were Joint Organisers. Monthly Biggan Chinta, Channel I TV and Radio ’71 were the media partners while daily Prothom Alo was a media associate. Through three stages of evaluation by renowned experts seven teams were finally selected for the awards for three levels – ‘Top, Medium and Satisfactory’ – through an exhibition organized at the Curzon Hall premises of Dhaka University on 15 September, 2018. Inaugurated by the Vice Chancellor of the Dhaka University, Professor Md. Akhtaruzzaman, the exhibition was followed by a Prize distribution ceremony and a programme of music, the latter organized by the Department of Music of the University of Dhaka.

Seminars

BMPT department organized the following seminars during 2018.

1. ‘Scopes and Opportunities in the field of Biophotonics’, by Dr. Atikur Rahman Jewel, Optics Engineer, Optos PLC, Dunfermline, Scotland, UK, 3 January 2018.
2. ‘Study of Pore Formation in Lipid Membranes Using Irreversible Electroporation for Possible Application in Cancer Cell Ablation’, by Dr. Mohammad Abu Sayem Karal, Assistant Professor, Biophysics Research Laboratory, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, 18 March 2018.
3. ‘Software development for a secure telemedicine system for slow internet connectivity’, by: Md. Zihad Tarafdar, PhD Seminar, Department of Biomedical Physics & Technology, University of Dhaka, 27 May 2018.
4.  ‘MRI and MR Fingerprinting: How it works’ by Dr. Zaid Bin Mahbub, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics and Physics, North South University, Dhaka, 28 October, 2018.

 

Talks by Professor K Siddique-e Rabbani

1. Keynote Lecture: “Biomedical Engineering research targeting people in low resource countries”, 1^st Global Conference on BioNanoMedIT (GC BNMIT), Dhaka, organized by the Biomedical Engineering (BME) Department of Jessore University of Science and Technology, 13 February 2018.
2. Invited Talk: “Applying Physics to Life”, International Conference on Physics, Dhaka, organized by Bangladesh Physical Society, 08-10 March, 2018.
3. Invited Talk: “Addressing the young technological enthusiasts of Robolution-2018, - Sharing my thoughts”, Robolution-2018 at Military Institute of Science & Technology (MIST), Dhaka, 24 March 2018.
4. Invited Talk: “বিজ্ঞান ও প্রযুক্তি গবেষণা কেন ও কীভাবে করব?” (in Bangla, “Why and how should we do research in science & technology?”), Dhaka University Science Society Lecture, 5 May, 2018.
5. Invited Talk: “Research for life - focusing on people's needs”, Premier University_EEE-Aluminium Jubilee, Chittagong, 11 May 2018.
6. Participatory talk: “Experience of indigenous technology based Telemedicine in rural Bangladesh - years of successful implementation”, Special session on ‘Patient and Technology Management Challenges in Rural Health Centers’ at IUPESM 2018 - World Congress on Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering, Prague, 3-8 June, 2018.
7. Participatory talk: “Do we need undergraduate education in medical physics & biomedical engineering?” at IUPESM 2018 - World Congress on Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering, Prague, 3-8 June, 2018.
8. Invited Talk: “সুনির্দিষ্ট লক্ষ্যে জীবন ঘনিষ্ঠ বিজ্ঞান গবেষণার অভিজ্ঞতা” (in Bangla, “Experience of science research relevant to life with definite targets”), Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Dhaka, 31 July, 2018.
9. Invited Talk: “Research for life - focusing on people's needs”, IEEE Women Chapter, Dhaka, 2 Oct 2018.
10. Address as Chief Guest: BME Fest 2018 at MIST, Dhaka, 4 October 2018.
11. Invited Talk: “Dhaka University Telemedicine Programme (DUTP) – innovations in technology and service delivery”, International Conference on “Electronics and ICT”, Dhaka, organized by Bangladesh Electronic Society, 25-26 November 2018.
12. Keynote Lecture: “The importance of indigenous development of computer based technology in healthcare - seen through a chronicle of our own efforts”, International Joint Conference on Computational Intelligence (IJCCI 2018), Dhaka,  organised by Daffodil International University, Jahangirnagar University of Bangladesh and South Asian University of India, 14 December 2018.

Participatory talk (through video): “Indigenous development of Medical Devices – a must for low resource countries”, 4^th WHO Global Forum on Medical Devices, Visakhapatnam, India, 13-15 December 2018.