Dr Silvia Del Din
Research Associate

  • Email: silvia.del-din@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 248 1244
  • Fax: +44 (0) 191 248 1251
  • Address: Clinical Ageing Research Unit
    Newcastle University
    Campus for Ageing & Vitality
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE4 5PL
Background

I received my Bachelor Degree in Information Engineering in 2006 from the University of Padova under the Supervision of Prof. Claudio Cobelli and myMaster Degree in Bioengineering in 2008 from the University of Padova ("Biomechanical analysis of swimmers through markerless motion capture." Supervisor: Ch.mo Prof. Claudio Cobelli, Co-advisor: Dr. Elena Ceseracciu).


I completed my PhD in Bioengineering (Area of the Information Engineering PhD School) in 2012 from the Department of Information Engineering of the University of Padova, under the supervision of Eng. Chiara Dalla Man ("Innovative Techniques for Biomechanical Evaluation of Stroke Survivors: Combined fMRI-Gait Analysis Assessment and Fugl-Meyer Clinical Scores Estimation Through Wearable Sensors.").


Since February 2012 until August 2012 I have been a Post Doctoral Fellow at the Department of Information Engineering of the University of Padova.

Education and Training


2009-2011
PhD at the PhD School of Information Engineering (XIV Cycle, Bioengineering area), Department of Information Engineering, University of Padova (Italy) Title of the Thesis: "Innovative Techniques for Biomechanical Evaluation of Stroke Survivors:
Combined fMRI-Gait Analysis Assessment and Fugl-Meyer Clinical Scores Estimation Through Wearable Sensors."
Head: Prof. Matteo Bertocco Supervisor: Ch.ma Dr. Eng. Chiara Dalla Man

2008

Graduate: degree in Information Engineering - Laurea Triennale in Ingegneria dell'Informazione, University of Padova (Italy) Title of the Thesis: "Stima della secrezione insulinica durante test intravenosi e orali tramite modelli minimi e deconvoluzione." Supervisor: Ch.mo Prof. Claudio Cobelli

2008
State Abilitation for Engineers (Esame di Stato per la Professione di Ingegnere), University of Padova (Itay)

Experience abroad
October 2010- September 2011:
Harvard Medical School, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Motion analysis Laboratory of Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Boston (MA) USA.
I have been part of the Motion Analysis Laboratory team at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston in order to carry on my PhD research, under the supervision of Prof. Paolo Bonato. I have been involved in a rehabilitation project of stroke patients, based on the use of wearable sensors: the goal is to use accelerometers for gathering quantitative measures of movement quality, providing accurate assessments to guide the rehabilitation process. Models based on features extracted from wearable sensor data should be useful to accurately predict some clinical scores.

Awards:

2012 

Winner of the “Prof. Sergio Gambi Award 2012- Second Edition” for PhD thesis related to an original research, preferably on a disability related topic, with possible theoretical and technological applications, with the PhD Thesis: "Innovative Techniques for Biomechanical Evaluation of Stroke Survivors: Combined fMRI-Gait Analysis Assessment and Fugl-Meyer Clinical Scores Estimation Through Wearable Sensors." Head: Ch.mo Prof. Matteo Bertocco, Supervisor: Ch.ma Dott. Ing. Chiara Dalla Man.

Prof. Sergio Gambi Award 2012   

2010

Winner of the BTS Bioengineering/SIMFER Award for the best scientific contribution on the evaluated functional analysis of the movement applied to the rehabilitation through robotic instruments.  (17th PRM Congress – 38° Congresso Nazionale: European Rehabilitation: Quality, Evidence, Efficacy and Effectiveness, Lido di Venezia 2010), with the study:   E. Carraro, Z. Sawacha, S. Del Din, F. Spolaor, A. Guiotto, A. R. Gravina, R. Guglielmin, C. Cobelli, S. Masiero. (2010) Abnormal activation of knee and ankle flexors-extensors is related to altered gait in ankylosing spondylitis? European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, 46, Suppl. 1, n° 2: 105.    

 Research Interests:

My research interests are concerned with biomechanics of human movement, Neurengineering, signal processing, and wearable technology, particularly:

  1.  Biomechanical analysis: Gait and postural analysis in patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis; development of a protocol to assess kinematics, kinetics, posturographic parameters (extracted from the COP’s displacement) and surface electromyography signals in order to evaluate gait and balance impairments in Ankylosing Spondylitis patients.
  2. Neuroengineering: analysis of fMRI  data in post-stroke patients pre and post  biofeedback rehabilitation treatment. 

  3. EMG signal processing: computation of  RMS, envelope, timing and values of the peaks.

  4. COP signal processing: evaluation of time-domain parameters (ellipses, sway area, sway path, velocity), frequency domain parameters, stochastic analysis.

  5. Wearable Sensors: use of wearable sensors data for clinical scores estimation.

  6. Swimmers markerless motion capture: biomechanics analysis of swimmers’ stroke through markerless underwater motion capture.

I am currently involved in the V-TIME project as assessor.

V-TIME Project 

Teaching 

Teaching class in "Bioingegneria del Movimento" 2011/12 for residents in Orthopaedic and Traumatology (Prof. Claudio Cobelli).

Teaching classes in "Elaborazione di segnali biologici" 08/09, "Elaborazione di segnali biologici "2009/10 (Prof. Maria Gianna Toffolo),  and "Bioingegneria del movimento e riabilitazione" 2009/10 (Dott. Ing. Chiara Dalla Man)