Recurring Meeting of Cleveland Clinic Core Team

Date: April 8, 2014

Time: 10:30 AM EST

Means: In person meeting

Attendees:

1. Ahmet Erdemir
2. Craig Bennetts
3. Snehal Chokhandre
4. Robb Colbrunn
5. Elvis Danso

Agenda:

1. Discuss immediate action items from the last meeting.
2. Evaluation of readiness for mechanical joint testing.
3. Update on data management specifications.
4. Update on tissue mechanical testing.
5. Decide immediate action items for the next meeting.
6. Other.

Immediate Action Items:

• Craig
  • Provide DICOM headers from last imaging trials (March 20, 2013).
• Ahmet
  • Contact personnel at imaging facility to obtain imaging parameters.
• Snehal
  • Prepare samples for Mach-1 machine installation and testing.
  • Order a press for punching out tissue samples.
  • Test tissue thickness measurement using a camera system.
• Robb
  • Provide brief documentation on gravity compensation on the joint testing infrastructure page.
• Elvis
  • Provide a presentation on his tissue testing work.
• Robb and Dylan
  • Provide quantitative information on Optotrak probing system on the wiki.
• Robb and Snehal
  • Test the water bath heating system on Mach-1 machine.

Notes:

1. Discuss immediate action items from the last meeting.
   • Craig will update the dicom headers for the imaging trial on March 20th, 2014. Ahmet will contact Shannon and Chris for imaging specifications (headers from the imaging system) and to discuss the obtained final set. The latest imaging protocols tested on the March 20th trial will be used for the first Open Knee specimen.
   • Snehal updated the team about the upcoming installation and training for the Biomomentum Inc. Mach 1 material testing machine. She will unpack the machine and make sure nothing is broken and everything listed in the invoice was delivered. She will also keep all the fixtures and test samples ready for the training.
   • Dylan has been working on finding out more information regarding the heating system for saline bath which will be used with the tissue testing system. In his preliminary analysis using a small heater, he noticed a large gradient in temperature. More evaluation needs to be done using the actual bath. A larger tank may be built for the system. Snehal and Robb will test the heater related issues once the machine is set up.
   • Snehal will order a press and other items needed for future tissue testing needs. For tissue thickness measurement, Snehal will compare compare results from optical measurement to those taken with the thickness measurement device currently used. Based on the results, either an optical thickness measurement system or a system similar to the current system will be built for our purposes.
   • Tissue labeling details were discussed. See details in the agenda item relevant to data management.
   • Snehal, Ahmet and Elvis met and discussed Elvis' plan for the time he will be at the Cleveland Clinic. The expectations and possible action paths were discussed. Elvis will work with Snehal to train on the tissue testing system and in the meantime also analyze the data obtained previously for our other studies. Elvis will focus on doing extensive tissue testing in May to obtain material properties for various knee joint tissues. His goal will be to test 29 samples per knee specimen (cartilage, ligaments and menisci) using indentation and tensile tests. Snehal and Elvis will start testing pilot samples to optimize the tissues testing protocols for both the Open Knee project and Elvis' goals.
   • Gravity compensation issues and attempts to resolve them will be documented by Robb and Tara. The documentation can be put in the infrastructure Wiki page.
2. Evaluation of readiness for mechanical joint testing.
   • Robb updated the team regarding the current state of the joint testing system and related issues and concerns. The repair work for the brakes (or replacement of motors) on the Rotopod will cost about $20,000 and may need up to 10 weeks. Once the motors on the robot are replaced, the robot will be tested extensively to make sure all the errors are resolved before any actual Open Knee specimens are tested. Pilot knee testing can also be done before the motors are replaced to check for other noted errors and issues.
   • Dylan and Robb are working on resolving the issues with updated motion control of the system. The robot does not accurately go to the position it is programmed to go. This may be related to errors in coordinate system digitization. Identification of any erroneous robot positioning, including random or systematic patterns in these errors will need to be evaluated.
   • In the meantime, the team will focus on perfecting the tissue testing and on modeling specifications.
   • Another system previously built by Dr Ton van den Bogert may be explored as an option for joint testing.
3. Update on data management specifications.
   • Snehal updated the tissue labeling convention as per the discussions in the last meeting.
   • It was decided that 3 characters will be used to identify the major tissue and 4 subsequent characters will be used to specify locations and zone. These location identifiers go from global position of the sample to more granular location or zones.
   • All primary tissue labels were redone and an illustration was added to describe how the samples/data will be labeled based on location/zone.
   • The data organization and labeling for the entire dataset will be discussed and updated as the project progresses.
   • Snehal will upload the 'Joint to Cell' data to Midas platform and that organization will be refined and extended to the Open Knee data.
4. Update on tissue mechanical testing.
   • See details in action items.
5. Decide immediate action items for the next meeting.
   • The action items were assigned and agreed upon.
6. Other.
   • For the promotional video previously used videos, slides etc can be used.
   • The video needs to be 3-4 mins long.
   • Once a plan is built for the video, the people from the photography and video department will be contacted to make it.