OSPE - The Voice - September 2016 - 20

Cover "The beauty of iDAPT is that you have engineers working heart attacks, strokes, back injuries, hospital-acquired side-by-side with clinicians, so not only can you conduct infections, bedsores, and vehicle and pedestrian accidents. research together, but also make sure that the research questions 2. Restoring function: iDAPT's research has helped identify will address a challenge that is clinically relevant, and the and develop methods for restoring function to people who outcomes are reliable and accurate to be employed for real have an injury or illness. It has made advances in restoring a environments," says Azadeh. person's balance, movement in paralyzed arms, swallowing With 19 state-of-the-art labs, prototyping workshops and capabilities and cognitive function after head injury. design studios, iDAPT provides the opportunity to its 500 3. Enabling independence: Whether it is supporting older researchers, trainees and support staff to cultivate ideas and populations to age-in-place or assisting people to return test them in controlled simulations of real-life settings. Whether home more quickly after an injury or illness, iDAPT's it is simulating driving in downtown Toronto, the hazards research in modifying environments and developing assistive of Canadian winters or the stress of providing home care, technologies helps enable people to live independently and iDAPT's facilities can recreate real-world environments and move safely around their community. test challenges that people face in their everyday lives. 4. Optimizing rehabilitation: iDAPT's research focuses This one-stop-shop style of facilities allows iDAPT to on increasing accessibility, effectiveness and efficiency of accelerate research and the healthcare system. By development lifecycles. challenging assumptions about Quickly and efficiently the delivery of health care translating research findings and then testing innovative at idapt, we have a strong business into actual clinical practice alternatives, iDAPT's research development team that works with - or the development of real helps to lessen the burden and technologies has ultimately injury on caregivers, improve researchers from the very beginning, helped to cultivate iDAPT's clinical practices and reduce unique entrepreneurial culture. costs to the health system. right from the grant writing stage, to iDAPT focuses on fostering start thinking about how our research a culture that combines making innovations a authenticity, a commitment reality is going to become a product or how to people and a commitment What makes iDAPT so unique it is going to become a new policy or to business. Researchers are is that its research extends far encouraged to innovate, create beyond generating ideas and standard. and take risks to find practical publishing; its researchers work - Azadeh Yadollahi, Ph.D., Scientist with solutions with the capacity to collaboratively with academic Toronto Rehabilitation Institute-UHN not only change markets and and industry partners to fully systems, but also enhance the solve these big, common well-being of entire societies. problems. Ideas are incubated "At iDAPT, we have a into fully developed real-life strong team that works with products that are available for researchers from the very beginning - right from the grant the people who need them. To this end, iDAPT has launched writing stage - to start thinking about how our research is going several start-up companies to take ownership of the process of to become a product or how it is going to become a new policy making innovations a reality. or standard," says Azadeh. "But more importantly, right from BresoTec Inc. is an example of one of iDAPT's homegrown the start, we are thinking about where the project is going and start-ups, now an industry partner who develops, manufactures how it is going to impact people's lives." and sells products for the diagnosis and treatment of sleep iDAPT has the courage to push boundaries by expecting disorders. BresoTec's first product, BresoDx®, is the first cordless, more than a usual academic research institution: it is a research battery operated device for the diagnosis of sleep apnea that centre that is fully integrated with industry. patients can use at home, in their own bed. Sleep apnea is treatable, but less than 15% of North Americans with the condition have idapt works across four themes: been diagnosed. BresoDx® has the potential to revolutionize 1. Preventing injury, illness and disability: The focus is on sleep testing. By sharply reducing the traditional barriers to keeping people out of the hospital. By making streets, homes sleep testing, it will help to dramatically increase the diagnosis and workplaces safer, iDAPT's research can help prevent of sleep apnea. For more information about BresoTec, visit injuries, illnesses and disability, including: falls, head injuries, bresotec.com. 20 The VOICe September 2016 http://www.bresotec.com

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