FabrIc-Based REsearch (FIBRE) Platform

Demographic changes are creating enormous challenges for our healthcare system. For example, within twenty years, the population of Canadians aged 65+ will grow by 68%. In addition, nearly 75% of seniors have multiple chronic conditions, which increases healthcare utilization threefold, increases hospital admission and readmission, and the need for long-term care. However, what if, instead of expanding our hospitals and long-term care facilities, we empowered seniors to “age in place”? What if we functionalized clothing—technology so inconspicuous that it disappears into one’s daily routine—for seniors and others living with chronic conditions to provide continuous, timely and uninterrupted monitoring and care at home? What if shirts could wake people before their hearts stopped beating in their sleep? What if leggings could prevent people from falling and breaking their hips?
The FabrIc-Based REsearch (FIBRE) Platform is a major research initiative in Greater Toronto Area which aims to bring a revolutionary healthcare platform using textile-based wearables to deliver care wherever users may be—at home, at work, in a shelter or in a Northern community. FIBRE will use smart clothing that unobtrusively monitors biological signals 24/7 and delivers life-saving interventions to protect people who have or will develop complex health conditions. The key academic partners in this effort are Centennial College, George Brown College, Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCAD University), Ryerson University, Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, The Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (Humber College), the University of Toronto, and the University Health Network. This lecture will present FIBRE and its partners.

Dr. Milos R. Popovic, Dipl. El. Eng., Ph.D., FCAE, FAIMBE, P.Eng.
Milos R. Popovic is the Director of The KITE Research Institute at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute – University Health Network, and a Professor (Tenured) in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. Dr. Popovic is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. He is the co-founder and director of (i) MyndTec; (ii) the Centre for Advancing Neurotechnological Innovation to Application (CRANIA) at the University Health Network and the University of Toronto; (iii) the CRANIA Neuromodulation Institute at the University of Toronto; and (iv) the Canadian Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Association. Dr. Popovic is also the founder of FabrIc-Based REsearch (FIBRE) Platform and the Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory, both located at the KITE Research Institute, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute – University Health Network. Dr. Popovic held the Toronto Rehab Chair in Spinal Cord Injury Research appointment from 2007 until 2017.
Dr. Popovic received his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Toronto, Canada in 1996, and the Dipl. Electrical Engineer degree from the University of Belgrade, Serbia in 1990. His fields of expertise are functional electrical stimulation, neuroprostheses, neuro-rehabilitation, neuromodulation, brain machine interfaces, physiological control systems, assistive technology, modelling and control of linear and non-linear dynamic systems, robotics, and signal processing.
National and international prizes and awards for Research and Development, Intellectual Property, Engineering, Inventions, Entrepreneurship and contributions in Assistive Technologies recognize his competences and achievements.