Media releases

• Brock makes list of Top 15 Hamilton-Niagara employers for second year

  Wednesday, November 22, 2017 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 22 November 2017 – R00216

  For the second-consecutive year, Brock University has been named one of the Top 15 employers in Hamilton-Niagara.

  The 2018 list of Hamilton-Niagara’s Top Employers was announced Wednesday, Nov. 22 in the Hamilton Spectator. The annual competition, organized by the editors of Canada’s Top 100 Employers, recognizes employers in the area that lead their industries in offering exceptional places to work.

  Brock President Gervan Fearon said making the list of Hamilton-Niagara’s top employers confirms that the University is a great place to work and an excellent post-secondary institution.

  “This is feedback that tells us we’re building an outstanding university community and an excellent workplace for us all,” he said. “We take pride in being an inclusive workplace and one that celebrates and recognizes our diversity and supports our employees.”

  The University has begun a survey of its employees in 2017 designed to assess employee engagement. The initial results demonstrated that people felt good about working at Brock.

  “The opening round of our employee engagement survey found that 89 per cent of respondents said they’re proud to tell people they’re associated with Brock University,” said Brian Hutchings, Vice-President, Administration.

  Overall, an average of 82 per cent of respondents indicated a favourable work experience at Brock.

  “Most positive responses came when people were asked about applying a range of skills and knowledge to doing their jobs,” said Hutchings. “They feel they are engaged in full, rich jobs that involve variety and problem-solving.”

  Brock University offers unique career opportunities in leadership, teaching, research, student support services and administration. With a history of developing the strengths and career potential of its employees, Brock is proud to be recognized as a Top Employer in the Hamilton-Niagara region for the second year in a row. Current career opportunities can be found at brocku.ca/careers

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.

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  Categories: Media releases

• Brock research team creating surface electrodes to better measure muscle activity

  Tuesday, November 21, 2017 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: 21 November 2017 – R00215

  Kinesiologist David Gabriel knows the thought of getting a needle is tormenting for many people.

  It’s part of the reason why the Brock University professor and his team of graduate students are working on improving the accuracy of needle-free electromyography (EMG).

  Years ago, Gabriel worked at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where part of his job was trying to calm the nerves of patients undergoing traditional electromyography tests, which measure electrical activity in muscles.

  The EMGs are part of a battery of tests doctors use to determine if someone has a neuromuscular disease such as muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s. To capture and record this electrical activity, doctors have typically inserted needles into the muscles of patients, who are then asked to contract these muscles by flexing, bending, lifting objects and performing other movements of varying intensities.

  It can be a painful ordeal, as Gabriel witnessed.

  “Just to have somebody there to hold hands and to help people get over the fear of the procedure, that made an impact on me,” he recalls.

  Decades later, the professor of Biomechanics and his team have found a way to gather the same level of sophisticated readings — minus the needle.

  “We’ve developed software that allows us to gain more information about how the nervous system is controlling the muscle using a non-invasive electrode,” he says.

  In the conventional procedure, the needle taps into a bundle of muscle fibres called a motor unit, which gets larger as more muscles and more force are needed to perform a task.

  The needle picks up a signal from the motor unit and transmits the signal to the EMG, which breaks it down into five electrical measurements: amplitude, waveform, time duration, phase and shape.

  The readings can give a clear indication of disease.

  Non-invasive electrodes placed on the skin have also been used to measure electrical activity in conventional testing. But these electrodes pick up readings from dozens of motor units at a time, making it difficult to discern clear patterns.

  “We developed a pattern classification technique that analyses all five measures you would normally get from a needle electrode,” says Gabriel. “Our technique says ‘OK, when these measures change this or that way, here is what’s going on underneath the skin inside the muscle.’ Before, you needed the needle to do that.”

  Gabriel stresses that it’s early days for the new surface electrode, which he and graduate students Greig Inglis, Lara Green, Tom Hoshizaki, Robert Kumar and Matt Mallette are developing.

  “Right now, we’re not at a stage where we can replace the needle, but at this stage, we’re starting to get some of the same results,” he says.

  Gabriel says even if some of the needles can be replaced, easing patients’ pain and fears is well worth it.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

  Brock University Marketing and Communications has a full-service studio where we can provide high definition video and broadcast-quality audio.

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  Categories: Media releases