Dr. Paul Breen

Postdoctoral Research Staff

Contact Information Phone: 353 91 493150 (Ext: 3150) Fax: 353 91 494511 Location: CIMRU Building, Nuns Island  Email: paul.breennuigalway.ie

Research Interests

Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation, Electrical Stochastic Resonance, and Sensors with applications in Rehabilitation.      

Biography

Dr. Paul Breen received his B.Eng. Degree in Computer Engineering (First Class Honours) in 2003 and his Ph.D. Degree in 2007, both from the University of Limerick. His Ph.D. research investigated the application of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation for blood flow assistance. He was awarded a Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2007 from the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology to continue this work. In 2008 he was awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education from NUI Galway. He has worked in collaborator labs at Roessingh Research & Development, Enschede, The Netherlands and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA. His current research interest involves investigating the potential of subsensory electrical stochastic resonance as a treatment for the loss of sensory function. This work, supported by a Health Research Board Award, aims to restore lost neural functionality where it is impaired through neuropathy.

Publications

Journal

Broderick BJ, O'Briain DE, Breen PP, Kearns SR, and Ó Laighin G. A pilot evaluation of a neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) based methodology for the prevention of venous stasis during bed rest. Medical Engineering & Physics In Press, Corrected Proof: 2010. 

Corley GJ, Broderick BJ, Nestor S, Breen PP, Grace P, Quondamatteo F, Ó laighin G. "The Anatomy and Physiology of the Venous Foot Pump," The Anatomical Record: Advances in Integrative Anatomy and Evolutionary Biology, 2009.

Breen PP, Corley GJ, O'Keeffe DT, Conway R, Ó Laighin G. A programmable and portable device for drop foot correction and blood flow assist application. Medical Engineering and Physics. 2009, 31(3):400-408.

Broderick BJ, Breen PP, Ó laighin G. Electronic stimulators for surface neural prosthesis. Journal of Automatic Control 2008;18(2):25-33.

Clarke-Moloney M, Lyons GM, Breen P, Burke PE, Grace PA. Haemodynamic Study Examining the Response of Venous Blood Flow to Electrical Stimulation of the Gastrocnemius Muscle in Patients with Chronic Venous Disease. European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery. 2006; 31(3):300-305.

Breen PP,  O'Keeffe DT, Conway R, Lyons GM. A system for the delivery of programmable, adaptive stimulation intensity envelopes for drop foot correction applications. Medical Engineering & Physics. 2006; 28(2):177-186.

Conference

P.P. Breen, A. Nisar, and G. Olaighin, "Evaluation of a single accelerometer based biofeedback system for real-time correction of neck posture in computer users," Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc, vol. 1, pp. 7269-72, 2009.

Broderick, B. J.; O'Briain, D. E.; Breen, P.; Kearns, S. R.; OLaighin, G., "A Hemodynamic Study of Popliteal Vein Blood Flow: The Effect of Bed Rest and Electrically Elicited Calf Muscle Contractions," Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2009.

S. I. Birlea, G. J. Corley, N. M. Birlea, P. P. Breen, F. Quondamatteo, and G. OLaighin, "Detecting electroporation by assessing the time constants in the exponential response of human skin to voltage controlled impulse electrical stimulation," in 31th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, 2009, pp. 1355-1358.

G. J. Corley, S. I. Birlea, P. P. Breen, and G. OLaighin, "Popliteal blood flow and plantar flexion force due to neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) of the calf muscle pump are strongly associated with NMES intensity," in 31th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, 2009, pp. 3051-3054.

S. I. Birlea, N. M. Birlea, P. P. Breen, and G. OLaighin, "Identifying changes in human skin electrical properties due to long-term NeuroMuscular Electrical Stimulation," in 30th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 2008, pp. 326-329.

Broderick, Barry J.; Corley, Gavin J.; Quondamatteo, Fabio; Grace, Pierce A.; Breen, Paul P.; OLaighin, Gearoid, "A haemodynamic study of the physiological mechanisms of the venous pump in the healthy human foot," Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2008, vol., no., pp.1411-1414, 20-25 Aug. 2008.

G. J. Corley, P. P. Breen, P. A. Grace, and G. Olaighin, "The effect of surface neuromuscular electrical stimulation and compression hosiery applied to the lower limb, on the comfort and blood flow of healthy subjects," presented at Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2008. EMBS 2008. 30th Annual International Conference of the IEEE, 2008.

S. I. Birlea, N. M. Birlea, P. P. Breen, and G. OLaighin, "Identifying skin electrical properties using a standard neuromuscular electrical stimulation voltage pulse," in Irish Signals and Systems Conference 2008 Galway, Ireland, 2008, pp. 56-59.

Nene A, Breen P, Schaake L, Lyons G, Hermens H. Do gastrocnemius and soleus work in unison during normal gait? Part 1: Is there any evidence of crosstalk between them on sEMG? ESMAC 2007; Athens. Gait & Posture, vol 26, p S1-S61.

Nene A, Breen P, Schaake L, Lyons G, Hermens H. Do gastrocnemius and soleus work in unison during normal gait? Part 2: Assessment of their function during normal gait.; ESMAC 2007; Athens. Gait & Posture, vol 26, p S1-S61.

Breen PP, Nene A, Schaake L, Hermens H, Ó Laighin G. An exploration of M-wave response to electrical stimulation in the triceps surae. Padua Muscle Days 2008, Padova, Italy.

P.P. Breen, G. J. Corley, D. T. O'Keeffe, R. Conway, and G. Ó Laighin, "A programmable and portable NMES device for drop foot correction and blood flow assist applications," Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc, pp. 2416-9, 2007.

P.P. Breen, O. Galvin, P. A. Grace, and G. O. Laighin, "Doppler ultrasound measurements of venous return in the popliteal vein," Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc, vol. 2007, pp. 978-81, 2007.

OLaighin, G.; Broderick, B. J.; Clarke-Moloney, M.; Wallis, F.; Grace, P.A., "A Technique for the Computation of Lower Leg Muscle Volume from MRI Images in the context of Venous Return," Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2007, vol., no., pp.951-954, 22-26 Aug. 2007.

Lyons GM, Breen P.  A unit to provide a capability for programmable real-time adjustment of stimulus intensity to a hand-held stimulator for drop foot correction applications. Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc; 2003. p 1554-1557 Vol.2.

Breen P, Lyons GM, O'Donovan K, O'Keeffe DT. Drop foot stimulator with capability or dynamic adjustment of stimulus intensity, IFESS 2003, Sydney, Australia.

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