Every year, Discover Brigham offers the public a firsthand look at research happening across our hospital. For 2020, the event was held entirely virtually, but audiences were able to experience the same thrill of discovery as in years past. Hundreds of people, including members of the Brigham community and the general public, registered to take part in a day of demos, posters, live pitches, sessions and more. If you were unable to attend — or if you want to revisit highlights from this year’s event — check out CRN’s coverage below.

Diving into Demos

This year’s nine demos were a tour-de-force of innovation, ranging from a nasal spray to protect against viruses to a robotic bronchoscope that can snake through the airways. Check out photos below and full coverage here.

Fumitaro Masaki and Nobuhiko Hata demonstrate a robotic bronchoscope
Hadi Shafiee demonstrates an application of his smartphone-based technology
Investigators are creating an N95 mask alternative
The Shafiee lab is developing a smartphone-based test for virus detection
A team has been working on a reusable alternative to the traditional N95 respirator
Briggie is a voice-responsive bear for patients
The inventors of the TEAL respirator tested different ways to sterilize the new respirator

Science Takes Center Stage

In a series of sessions, experts in fields including infectious diseases, allergies, diversity and inclusion, artificial intelligence, sex differences and more, shared cutting-edge research with audience members. Read full coverage here.

And the Award Goes to…

As part of this year’s event, four postdocs pitched their projects and the audience voted for who should receive a $1,000 Postdoc Fast Pitch prize. Jessica Williams, BS, MSc, PhD, a research fellow in Surgery and Cardiac Surgery, won for her project, “Effect of Artery Shape on Patient Risk.”

Although not held in person, Discover Brigham included a poster session, with almost 100 posters available for viewing. The posters ranged from basic to translational to clinical to population science from departments and divisions from across the Brigham.

A select few of those posters were awarded a Research Excellence Award. The award winners and last year’s Brigham Research Institute Award recipients were recognized to close out the day. The full list of Brigham innovators and inventors was, quite literally, too long to share but can be found and feted here.

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