Pittsburgh, September 4, 2007 -- Researchers at the Department of Neurological Surgery’s Center for Clinical Neurophysiology were recently awarded a $2.4 million grant from the National Institute of Health to help prepare a novel, multimedia approach for the study of obesity.

The project is based on an electronic chronicle format (or e-chronicle), which will capture and organize daily events related to diet and physical activity.

Mingui Sun, PhD, professor of neurological surgery, bioengineering and electrical engineering and director of the Laboratory for Computational Neuroscience, is principal investigator on the project that will focus on developing a unified sensor device, cosmetically pleasant and easily worn by study subjects. The device will contain a miniature video camera configured to record the same scene the wearer sees. A set of physiological sensors will also be included.

The data recorded will be uploaded to a powerful computer where extensive multimedia processing will be performed to organize information using the newly developed e-chronicle technology. Diet and activity related events will be extracted, indexed and organized into an easily accessible form. The technology will de-identify any human appearance in the video.
The project hopefully will provide a new platform to study and better understand lifestyle, behavior and environmental trends prevalent in obesity and help provide more effective methods in its treatment.

This technology builds on extensive capabilities within the Center for Clinical Neurophysiology for video processing and miniaturization of electronics developed in support of physiological monitoring, endoNeurosurgery and brain computer interface systems.

Other investigators on the grant include Robert Sclabassi, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Clinical Neurophysiology; James Delany, MD, department of medicine; John Fernstrom, MD, and Madelyn Fernstrom, MD, both from the department of psychiatry; and Jie Yang, PhD, professor in the school of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University.

This project is one of the first grants awarded in a much larger NIH project known as the “Genes, Environment and Health Initiative” (GEI), a unique collaboration between geneticists and environmental scientists focusing on common conditions and personal environmental exposures.

In a news release announcing the GEI awards, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said, “This is ground-breaking research in understanding the complex factors that contribute to health and disease. Researchers have long known that our genes, our environmental exposures and our own behavioral choices all have an influence on our health. This new initiative will use innovative genomic tools as well as new instruments for measuring environmental factors­­—from diet and physical activity to stress and substance addiction—in order to begin sorting out how these different factors affect a person’s risk for a number of health conditions.”