Virtual reality enters the OR

System being developed in Peoria will train surgeons; Peoria NEXT grant will help further research 

A Peoria start-up company, VirtuSense Technologies, is quickly becoming cutting edge. Literally.

The company, a spinoff of Bradley University and Peoria Robotics, is developing virtual reality technology that will be used to train surgeons and emergency physicians in performing surgery while providing instant feedback.

Peoria NEXT presented VirtuSense a $50,000 grant that, combined with federal military grant funding, will continue the research in Peoria.

There was a time that about the closest thing to virtual reality surgery was that game called Operation! we played as kids. The object was to remove things from the "patient" and one wrong move or unsteady hand meant a loud buzzer sounded, denoting failure.

Now there is a new company called VirtuSense Technologies that has set up operations at the Peorian NEXT Innovation Center that is creating a way to train real-life doctors how to perform surgery without the use of board games or even cadavers, the usual way such training is done.

Using virtual reality, the company that is a spinoff of Peoria Robotics at Bradley University, is developing methods sure to be more cost-effective and efficient for the medical industry moving forward, its chief of technology said Tuesday.

Deepak Gaddipati said VirtuSense is already collaborating with physicians at OSF HealthCare and the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria to develop "product platforms" that will result in better data for training surgeons in the future.

Gaddipati said VirtuSense uses disposable synthetic tissue, allowing medical trainees to perform surgical procedures while providing real-time analysis of their actions. This system will allow trainees to experience the nuances of real-life surgery before operating on a patient.

"We are working 70 or 80 hours a week trying to get product out the door because we are working to take our technology to the next step, which will be real-time surgical simulation using virtual patients," Gaddipati said. The simulation would produce instant feedback, not unlike that old board game in that the trainees will know instantly what mistakes were made.

But this is no game. "This is advanced training where we are immersing people into the simulation and teaching them," Gaddipati said.

VirtuSense was awarded a $50,000 grant from Peoria NEXT, through its research grant program, to help continue the research necessary for the five-person staff. "This grant supports innovation and the implementation of commercialization in the areas of life science, physical science, material science, and engineering science," said Grant Brewen, CEO of Peoria NEXT.  "VST was chosen based on the company's inter-institutional collaboration, scientific/technical merit, commercialization potential, and future access to funding." 

Gaddipati said the Peoria NEXT grant will allow his team to continue researching ways to develop cost effective systems to improve simulators used for training medical personnel. "This grant enables the development of preliminary components for an augmented reality based surgical training system that combines virtual patient simulation with trainee skill evaluation capabilities," he said.

Already VirtuSense is in the middle stages of a grant award from the U.S. Army to develop medical simulation to train doctors in the field as well as to train soldiers in what is known as "buddy care."

That simulation, using virtual reality technology, can help soldiers learn how to detect internal hemorrhages after a traumatic event that could save lives. Many lives have been lost, Gaddipati said, because a wounded soldier appeared fine on the outside but had internal wounds that were undetected until it was too late.

A virtual reality glove worn by the trainee puts force on the fingers that simulates an internal hemorrhage so the soldier knows what to feel for when a buddy is wounded. "This is technology the Army and the Navy need now," Gaddipati said.

Brewen said the grant award keeps with strategies Peoria NEXT announced early this year that are geared toward attracting technology commercialization opportunities by focusing resources and energy on four main areas of concentration.  "These are four areas where we felt the region had the technical knowledge and expertise. Medical technology is one them," he said.  

He added it also is one of the fastest growing industries and that the Peoria region has a medical infrastructure that has seem more than $600 million in recent investments, additions and renovations.

"This seemed like a perfect fit for Peoria NEXT," Brewen said. "The focus of NEXT Medical is to generate funding to sponsor and manage research in the areas of cancer biology, health informatics, medical education and medical device development. With vision that extends far outside the laboratory, Next Medical can aggregate funding from both public and private sources, develop research projects involving multiple institutions and actively manage their funding and accountability." 

Paul Gordon is editor of The Peorian. He can be reached at 692-7880 or editor@thepeorian.com

'Architect' Rove to be Washington Day speaker

GOP campaign leader and former Bush advisor will speak at Creve Coeur Club event on Feb. 22

Karl Rove, credited with leading George W. Bush to back-to-back presidential election victories in 2000 and 2004, will speak at the Creve Coeur Club's George Washington Day Banquet in February.

Rove, who earned the nickname "the architect" for those Bush victories, also spent time in the White House as a senior advisor to President Bush, as well.

The Creve Coeur Club is accepting reservations for the dinner, scheduled for Feb. 22 but ticket prices have not yet been set.

Karl Rove has been one of the top names in the Republican party the last dozen years or so, but it hasn't always been smooth sailing for the former advisor to President George W. Bush.

Rove has taken a lot of heat in recent weeks for his perceived failure to put Mitt Romney in the White House and and other GOP losses on election night and now the Grand Old Party seems in disarray.

What does Rove, credited for delivering the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections to the Republicans, have to say about it? How does he view the GOP now and where does he see it going in the future?

The Creve Coeur Club hopes he will answer those and other questions when Rove speaks Feb. 22, 2013 at the organization's annual Washington Day Banquet.

"We believed he would be a very interesting speaker and that people would enjoy getting his insights on the election, the Republican party and politics in general," said Dennis Bailey, president of the Creve Coeur Club.

"We'd like to see if he thinks there will be or has been a fundamental shift in what people expect from their government," Bailey said.

This will be at least the second time Rove has been in Peoria. He accompanied President Bush here in early 2007, even chatting briefly with reporters covering the event before the president began speaking.

Rove's work in getting Bush elected earned him the nickname "the architect" and he stayed on the president's staff as a senior advisor. He was Deputy Chief of Staff for three years during Bush's second term and oversaw several White House operations, including strategic initiatives, political affairs and intergovernmental affairs.

His knowledge and influence was why the Super PACs known as Crossroads GPS and American Crossroads, which he controlled, were entrusted with hundreds of millions of dollars to engineer a Romney victory over President Obama as well as gain more seats in the U.S. House and Senate.

However, Romney and every Senate candidate backed by Crossroad lost.

Bailey of the Creve Coeur Club said that while the organization is interested in Rove's insights about that, the heat he has taken from fellow Republicans, including heavy hitters such as Donald Trump, was not considered a drawback to Rove's selection as Washington Day Banquet speaker.

In its news release announcing Rove as the speaker the Creve Coeur Club noted his accomplishments in politics, including the praises he has received in the past for his political acumen.

"Rove has been described by respected author and columnist Michael Barone in U.S. News &World Report as '...unique...no Presidential appointee has ever had such a strong influence on politics and

policy, and none is likely to do so again anytime soon.' Washington Post columnist David Broder has called Rove a master political strategist whose 'game has always been long term...and he plays it with an intensity and attention to detail that few can match,'" the release said.

"Fred Barnes, elecutive editor of TheWeekly Standard, has called him 'the greatest political mind of his generation and probably of any generation...He knows history, understands the moods of the public, and is a visionary on matters of public policy,'" it added.

Rove now is a regular contribute to Fox News, the decidedly right-leaning channel, and he writes a regular column for the Wall Street Journal. He has written articles for other publications as well and recently authored the bestselling book "Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight."

According to the Creve Coeur Club news release Rove is a Colorado native and attended the University of Utah, the University of Maryland-College Park, George Mason University, and the University of Texas at Austin. Rove has taught graduate students at UT Austin's Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and undergraduates in a joint appointment from the Journalism and Government departments at the university. He was also a faculty member at the Salzburg Seminar.

He was previously a member of the Board of International Broadcasting, which oversaw the operations of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty and served on the White House Fellows regional selection panel. He was also a member of the Boards of Regents at Texas Women's Union and East Texas State University.

Rove now serves on the University of Texas Chancellor's Council Executive Committee and on the Board of Trustees for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation and the Texas State History Museum Foundation. He is a member of the McDonald Observatory Board of Visitors and the Texas Philosophical Society, the release said.

Bailey said ticket prices for the banquet, which will be at the Par-A-Dice Hotel in East Peoria, have not been set as yet. However, he added, the organization is taking rservations, which can be made by calling Wendy Mitchell, general manager of the Creve Coeur Club of Peoria, at 672-2267.

Paul Gordon is editor of The Peorian. He can be reached at 692-7880 or editor@thepeorian.com

Cat unveils 2013 Sprint Cup car

Driver Jeff Burton and team owner Richard Childress show the 2013 Chevrolet SS at Cat Visitors Center  

NASCAR racing team owners are still awaiting word on what the final rules package will be for the 2013 season, which begins in February in Dayton.

But some are showing off prototypes of their new car, including the Richard Childress team, owner of the No. 31 Caterpillar sponsored car driven by Jeff Burton.

Burton and Childress unveiled the new car, a Chevrolet SS with new aerodynamics and an enhanced safety package, during a stop Wednesday at the Caterpillar Visitors Center.

The Caterpillar racing team is confident new NASCAR rules, which have yet to be announced, will make Sprint Cup racing a more even playing field in 2013, the driver and owner said Wednesday.

And they believe the 2013 Chevrolet SS bearing the Caterpillar logo next to the number 31 will be as competitive a stock car as they've driven.

A prototype of the new Cat car was unveiled Wednesday at the Caterpillar Visitors Center, with driver Jeff Burton and owner Richard Childress on hand to talk about it and sign autographs for NASCAR fans.

"The biggest thing new about the car would be the aerodynamics package," Childress said. "The previous car (which is on display at the Visitor's Center) has been a good car but we need one that is going to be more competitive. We think this could be it."

Burton noted that 2012 was a tough year for the Cat team. "It wasn't the car's fault. We didn't do a good enough job having it ready" under new NASCAR safety regulations put in place last year, he said.

The new rules, which ESPN reporter were distributed to racing teams on Tuesday will be step two and while it will still be a package built around safety, it should make it more even for all cars and drivers, Burton said. "We need to be on the same playing field as everybody else and the new rules, we hope, will put us there," he said.

"We're stepping back to what NASCAR is all about, which is making the races competitive and exciting for the spectators. NASCAR has been working exceptionally hard to make racing better. We have to make it more fun to watch, more exciting with more side-by-side racing.

"The fans deserve to go to any race track and see a great race. We're super excited about this," Burton said.

The Cat team will build 14 cars based on the new rules to replace the vehicle that has been in use for seven years. Childress said the new car will look more like a Chevrolet street car while safer for the drive than ever before, including additional roll bars inside. IT also will use renewable fuel.

Childress acknowledged there will be a time crunch to have the cars, which are manufactured in Australia, ready for Daytona in mid-February, the first race for new cars. "But if NASCAR does all it says it has been working on, it will be good for us and all of racing," he said.

Burton and Childress said they were impressed with the Caterpillar Visitors Center, which they were seeing for the first time on Wednesday. "I hope those who work at Caterpillar take pride in what they see here, like they do in their work," Burton said.

Also on hand Wednesday was the transport vehicle, a semi-trailer that holds two of the race cars as well as all the equipment. Tours were given of that vehicle as it was parked just outside the Visitors Center.

Burton, 45, has been racing the NASCAR circuit for 19 years and 21 wins and more than $81 million in winnings to his credit. The coming season, 2013, will be his fifth driving the Caterpillar car. He has yet to win driving the Caterpillar car and finished 19th in winnings in 2012.

He is the brother of Ward Burton, a previous driver for Caterpillar.

Wednesday was the only day the prototype Chevrolet SS was to be shown in Peoria.

Paul Gordon is editor of The Peorian. He can be reached at 692-7880 or editor@thepeorian.com

Shop small business on Saturday

Small Business Saturday initiative continues to grow; area-wide collaboration lends support to the effort

Small Biz Saturday

We've had Black Friday for decades and Cyber Monday for many years now, but few initiatives have seen faster growth with meaning to more people than Small Business Saturday

Born in social media and in only its third year of existence it is an initiative that gets people moving and businesses energized as it encourages people to shop small businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving — on the business retail weekend of the year — to support the companies that provide most of the jobs in this country.

Small Business Saturday is this Saturday, Nov. 24, and Peoria area leaders have again banded together to support the initiative.

"Small businesses are the backbone of any community and Peoria is no different. Peoria, like all other communities, depends on small businesses to employ residents and to help grow the economy," Mayor Jim Ardis said Tuesday during a news conference at the Metro Centre in Peoria. "Small businesses provide jobs; 85 percent of new job generation comes from small businesses in any economy so these small businesses provide jobs for our friends and neighbors. It's our responsibility to support them."

Ardis further noted that more than half of all private sector jobs in the United States are provided by small businesses and that 98 percent of all business in the Peoria metropolitan area are considered small businesses. "For every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores more than half of it returns to the local economy through taxes, payroll and other expenditures," he said.

About two dozen regional partners are part of the local coalition to support Small Business Saturday, with those partners representing businesses and retailers and municipalities stretching from Pekin to Princeton, McLean County to Ottawa, said Anaise Berry, director of the Illinois River Road National Scenic Byway.

"There are two dozen regional partners on board helping promote the initiative including area Chambers of Commerce, economic development organizations, tourism groups, cities, counties and community groups. We are each promoting the program in our individual communities and to our members encouraging them to support the small businesses in their towns," she said at the news conference.

Joni Hunt, a city commissioner and director of tourism and marketing for the city of Princeton, noted that only 70 percent of new small businesses survive two year and that the percentage declines from there. Only a quarter of them are still in business after 15 years.

"We have to do our part to support them and initiatives like Small Business Saturday are a great way to do so," Hunt said. 

Rob Parks, president of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce, said the growth of the Small Business Saturday initiative has been phenomenal, in part because drumming up support has not been difficult.

"In fact, it has been very easy to get people involved because they like to emphasize the uniqueness of small business," she said. "By including the various chambers of commerce in coordinating these kinds of efforts there gets to be a lot of support because the majority of our memberships are small businesses."

She noted that much of the Small Business Saturday campaign has been done on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Last year the social media promotion of the event generated more than 2.6 million "likes" on Facebook and nearly 200,000 supportive tweets on Twitter.

"It is a great way to call attention to something that needs support, like small and unique companies. We encourage those companies to participate in Small Business Saturday and to offer something special to draw shoppers, like special discounts or just cider and cookies. Getting shoppers inside is the first step," Parks said.

Many people were asked by the local coordinators to sign pledge sheets promising to shop small on Saturday. Those who signed were given a $25 American Express gift card courtesy of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce.

The partner organizations in the local effort include the Chambers of Commerce in Canton, East Peoria, Lacon, McLean County, Ottawa Area, Pekin, Peoria Area, Peoria Heights, Princeton and Washington. Municipal and county governmental entities include Peoria, East Peoria, Pekin, Peoria County and Washington.

Tourism bureaus and offices include Peoria Area, Pekin Main Street and Princeton and the Illinois River Road National Scenic Byway. Metro Centre, with 47 stores and businesses, also is a partner.

Paul Gordon is editor of The Peorian. He can be reached at 692-7880 or editor@thepeorian.com