Artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating medical breakthroughs at an unprecedented rate for researchers nationwide. It can process data in minutes instead of months, see things the human eye cannot and conduct previously inconceivable experiments.

And when it comes to using AI to break new ground, Memorial University’s researchers are coming out on top.

Research Infosource regularly publishes data on research and development activities in Canada, and a recent report  found that among Canadian universities with medical schools, Memorial University is ranked No. 1 when it comes to how many of its published studies leveraged AI to augment research.

For the fourteenth year in a row, Memorial also ranks among Canada’s top 20 research universities.

Recent examples of AI-related research breakthroughs at Memorial University

Massive improvements to the control of prosthetic limbs, with no surgery required:

More than a million people a year experience the loss of a limb. While prosthetic hands have great potential to improve the lives of amputees, they are traditionally limited in function. With $237,750 from the federal government’s New Frontier’s research fund, Dr. Xianta Jiang is creating an AI interface to control prosthetic hands. His interface will allow amputees to use an artificial hand as easily as their intact hand ,without requiring surgery. Read more about Dr. Jiang’s work. 

Big strides in monitoring and treating multiple sclerosis (MS)

Drs. Michelle Ploughman and Xianta Jiang used AI to create a new way of extracting information from 100,000 sensors on an electronic walkway. These sensors capture detailed data about how a person walks such as step length, stride time and weight distribution. Their AI-assisted method was able to detect walking problems not visible by the human eye, and accurately quantify walking and balance problems associated with conditions like MS. In the near future, an AI-powered walkway like theirs would help doctors detect changes in a patient’s gait and balance and track their symptoms more objectively over time to fine-tune and personalize MS treatments.

Reducing ER wait times in our hospitals

Extended emergency department wait times are a common health-care problem worldwide; one that can threaten patients’ well-being and foster a sense of dissatisfaction among both patients and hospital personnel. Dr. Chris Patey, an ER doctor himself, and his PhD student Bahareh Ahmadzadeh, are synthesizing the findings of 17,569 academic articles on how AI applications can improve ER wait times, which existing applications actually have improved wait times, and how we can use a living systematic review approach to allow hospital decision makers to apply AI advances to health-care efficiencies.

Examples like these highlight how AI is making previously impossible experiments and analyses possible, right here at home at Memorial University.

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For more information, or to arrange an interview, contact Chad Pelley, media relations manager for Memorial University, at chad.pelley@mun.ca or 709-853-4281.