Laboratory of Physics and Physiology / Laboratoire de Physique et Physiologie.

LPHYS is part of the Cardiology Dept., directed by Pr. P. Van de Borne, of the Erasmus hospital of the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). Our research unit was created in 2013 by Dr. P.-F. Migeotte to unite researchers who share an interest in Physics Physiology and/or Biomedical Engineering.

The aims of LPHYS are to bring the methods of Physics and Engineering to the field of Medicine for a better understanding of human physiology.
One of the main research interests is the study of the effects of altered gravity (hyper to micro) on the human body; more particularly we are interested in the effects of spaceflight on the cardiovascular, cardiopulmonary and autonomic nervous systems and their possible consequences in the context of space exploration. All these adaptation mechanisms lead to a new homeostatic status which upon the return of the astronauts to a “normal” gravity level might put them at risk.
We are the leader of the project “three-dimensional ballistocardiography in microgravity” (B3D) which is supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) via the PRODEX program and BELSPO. The aim is to make use of “Ballistocardiography” which is the recording in 3 dimensions of the tiny vibrations of the human body on free floating astronauts and which offer a view on the mechanical function of the heart. The outputs of this research is to expand our knowledge of the cardiac function in space and develop new technology for the benefit of the population on Earth. Space and microgravity allow to better understand the impact of gravity on this technique. We discovered that we can offer this technique for clinical applications. We are now developing new wearable cardiac monitoring system that can be used for the tele-monitoring of patients or elderly people at home. HeartKinetics is a ULB-Spin-off that received the support from various organisations and that aims at revolutionizing the way healthcare system deals with chronic cardiac patients.

News:

19/07/2019: We are proud to announce the publication of our first paper on the validation of the Kinocardiograph entitled “Accurate Detection of Dobutamine-induced Haemodynamic Changes by Kino-Cardiography: A Randomised Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Validation Study”. published in SciRep part of the nature groupe of journals Click here for the pdf or here for the journal access.

17/06/2019: We are proud to announce the creation of the HeartKinetics Spin-off. For more details see HeartKinetics.com. And for more information you can contact Pierre-François Migeotte – pmigeott (at) ulb.ac.be

17/05/2019: We are currently involved in the ESA – DLR – NASA sponsored AGBRESA  head-down-tilt bedrest around the artificial gravity countermeasure to prevent cardiac deconditioning. see our post on the AGBRESA – DLR blog.

17/07/2017:  Inventor award of Dr Migeotte mentioned on the news page of the ULB and on the EHRA – Inventor Award webpage Click here.

20/06/2017: The European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), a Registered Branch of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), awarded the first prize of the 2017 inventors award to Dr. Pierre-François Migeotte and the HEARTKINETICS Spin-off team from Université libre de Bruxelles at the cardiology department of the Erasmus hospital, for the invention of the Kino-cardiograph. See the Lifetechbrussels news letter Click here.

28/10/2016: Following the Lifetech News letter : If you want to read more about  Heart-Kinetics and our participation to the Medtech Accelerator just Click here.

15/06/2016: Heart-Kinetics team participate to the last session of the Medtech Accelerator  program from the lifetechbrussels.

11/09/2016: Participation to the symposium Cardiology and Spaceflight organized by the Simon Fraser University in Vancouver during the computing in cardiology conference.

08/07/2016: Heart-Kinetics received the support from Innoviris.

15/06/2016: Heart-Kinetics team participate to the Medtech Accelerator  program from the lifetechbrussels.

25/01/2016: Start of the phase 2 of the 60 days ESA-RSL bed rest campaign.

28/08/2015: Start of the phase 1 of our participation to the 60 days ESA bed rest campaign performed at the Envihab facility of the DLR center in Cologne.

17/11/2014: Participation to radio show “le forum de midi”, la première de la RTBF. Ecoutez le podcast sur le site de la Suborbital Research Association.

31/10/2014: News paper on our participation to the 61th ESA parabolic flight campaign ! See here (in Nederlands).

09/10/2014: Our participation to the 61th ESA parabolic flight campaign in the Media ! See here (in Portuguese).
12/09/2014: We completed the 61th ESA parabolic flight campaign. See the pictures here.
07/08/2014: Ballistocardiography pionneer Abraham Noordergraaf passed away. Article on philly.com.
05/06/2014: On parle de Ballistocardiographie dans Daily Science.
07/02/2014: LPHYS Website is now online !
15/01/2014: Remise du Prix Saucez – Van Poucke attribué au Dr El Oumeri, chirurgien cardiaque à l’hôpital Erasme. More information here.
13/01/2014: Retrouvez-nous sur le Podcast de l’ULB.
20/11/2013: La libre Belgique parle de nos expériences en vols paraboliques. Regardez ici (in French).