Biomedical and Astronomical Signal Processing (BASP) Frontiers 2015

Last week saw the third instalment of the BASP conference, which brings together the communities of astronomy, biomedical sciences, and signal processing. Although astronomical and biomedical sciences share common roots in the signal processing problems that are faced, the corresponding communities are almost completely disconnected. The goal of the BASP workshop series is to foster collaboration between the astronomical and biomedical physics communities, around common signal processing challenges.

Discussions during one of the deluxe poster sessions at BASP

As an astrophysicist, I was amazed to see the progress made in High Intensity Focused Ultrasound. Test patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease showed huge progress immediately following treatment, demonstrating a huge impact on people’s lives. Many biomedical scientists I spoke to were similarly amazed by the progress being made in cosmology, where we have recovered a remarkably complete picture of the history and evolution of our Universe.  I also had some very interesting discussions on how some of the techniques we have been developing for astronomical imaging might be useful for studying the development of Glaucoma, which we’ll certainly be investigating further.

The slopes to ourselves at BASP

The meeting was held in a delightful setting in the Swiss Alps and many interesting scientific discussions (and debates!) were had on the ski slopes.

Proceedings are available on the website. For further discussions surrounding the meeting check out the Twitter hashtag #BASP2015.

Looking forward to BASP 2017 already!