Emily Thompson wins Ypsomed Innovation Award

Emily Thompson, a research associate at the Institute for Human Centered Engineering HuCE at BFH, was presented with an Ypsomed Innovation Award at yesterday’s award ceremony at Casino Bern. She and the team were given the award for a research project to develop a system that increases safety during the implantation of pacemaker electrodes, thanks to real-time three-dimensional visual support during the operation. Emily Thompson took 2nd place with her project presentation and stands to receive prize money of CHF 30'000. The money will go directly into the start-up she is founding, with which she wants to bring the so-called Pace Locator System onto the market.

About the project

In about 30 percent of pacemaker implantations, the electrodes are placed in the wrong position. The reason for this is that current imaging technologies can only show the position of the electrodes with 2D imagery during surgery. Around 12 years ago, cardiologist and head physician Rolf Vogel at the Solothurn hospitals and Professor Marcel Jacomet at the Institute for Human Centered Engineering at BFH jointly launched the research project with the aim of 3D visualisation of the activation potential on the heart. The project has since evolved and is currently focusing on pacemaker applications where the technology can be used to place pacemaker electrodes more precisely. During this period, numerous scientific staff members, several doctoral students and lecturers have worked on various larger Innosuisse and SNSF projects. In addition to the research, Emily Thompson is also responsible for the work on the approval as a medical device and, in particular, the transfer of the project from research to industry or to a spin-off.

About the Award

The Ypsomed Innovation Award recognises entrepreneurial teams or individuals that include market needs in their scientific work and whose aim is to translate their innovative developments into products or services in the marketplace.