Success in precision medicine depends on accessing high-quality genetic and molecular data that, in conjunction with comprehensive clinical data, can lead to more effective therapies. Although omics data is available on public databases, doctors are not yet able to extract useful value from it owing to its sheer volume and heterogeneity.

While there are solutions to this problem - based on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence - these are mainly designed for specific diseases; this while there are 400 million patients around the globe affected by rare diseases. Kazaam Lab’s solution is an innovative, electronic, passive dosimeter based on a CMOS Floating Gate sensor monolithically implemented on a single chip.

Simona Rombo, an associate professor of computer science at the University of Palermo and one of the founders and the CEO of Kazaam Lab, spoke with Andrew Wrobel about the challenges her start-up has faced and overcome, as well as offering some tips for young researchers developing health solutions.

Spastic hand paralysis is a painfully common problem experienced by patients who have suffered damage to the central nervous system due to a stroke or other causes. These patients are not able to autonomously open their fingers, which significantly impacts quality of life. There are about 20 million people suffering from hand spasticity worldwide, out of which 1.3 million people live in Europe.

Phoenix Orthosis uses an innovative approach to substitute the fingers’ ability to open, while intentionally remaining as discreet as possible. Thus, the paralysed hand can be reintegrated into everyday life which is the most effective route to rehabilitation.

Robert Ackermann, CCO at Phoenix Orthosis, spoke with Andrew Wrobel about the solution, its implementation on the German market and the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on the development of the product.

EIT Health Spain has had a particularly fruitful 2020 in terms of health innovation projects. 

In this episode, Balázs Fürjes speaks with Cristina Bescos, managing director at EIT Health Spain. Cristina holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering and has a long career in research and management of large international teams in digital health and healthcare transformation, combining experience from public research institutions and the private sector. They discuss the key success factors and lessons from EIT Health Spain’s collaboration with partners and co-location centres (CLCs).

Leg length discrepancy (LLD) is an orthopaedic condition that involves a difference in length between the lower extremities. This is a significant medical problem, and the causes may be various trauma, diseases, deformities of the locomotor system, surgery, growth disorders, neurological illness, and others. Statistics have shown that up to 90 per cent of the population has LLD.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a precursor to Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common form of dementia. MCI contributes to 60–70 per cent of dementia cases, an illness for which there is currently no cure.However, very early-stage existing therapies can improve and prolong cognitive function.

Neus is a software solution for detecting MCI that combines eye-tracking technology, digitalised neuropsychological tests with an AI-based decision support system.

In this episode, Vida Groznik, one of the co-founders and the CEO of Neus Diagnostics, spoke with Andrew Wrobel about how her team came up with the solution that helps diagnose dementia and other diseases, as well as the challenges her start-up has faced and overcome.

Monitoring the effects that drugs have on liver tissue is one of the primary tests used in the early phases of drug development and toxicological screening. Today, hepatotoxicity is tested either on cell lines (in vitro) or laboratory animals. But the current solutions are not delivering a long-term culture of human primary hepatocytes and are still dependent on cell lines (cancer cells) and animal models. 

Czech Inocure’s HepaMATRIX, therefore, delivers a solution to an unmet clinical need  — reliable models of liver tissue. The testing of novel drugs, the prevention of the toxic effects of drugs on the liver, knowledge about molecule biotransformation and liver pathologies need reliable models of human hepatic tissues. It is a novel technology enabling a culture of human primary hepatocytes in a better environment. The idea is focused on delivering ready-to-use artificial matrices — microplates with HepaMATRIX membranes - for in vitro production of liver models used in drug development, toxicological screening, basic research of liver diseases and diagnosis of patients with liver diseases. 

Inocure’s CEO Matej Buzgo speaks with Andrew Wrobel about his start-up’s path to designing next-generation drug delivery systems and the multiple challenges he faces and offers valuable advice to potential researchers and founders working on innovative health solutions.

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is prevalent in people of all ages. Children and adults with ADHD frequently experience social exclusion as the society around them reacts negatively to their inability to understand and abide by the prevailing “social code”. It is currently estimated that up to five per cent of school-age children are affected by ADHD. The majority of these children will experience problems adapting to the school environment and this may lead to educational underachievement. As a result, as many as 60 per cent of these children may find it difficult to find, and sustain, paid employment after leaving school. 

Tully is a wearable device monitoring physiological indicators, helping children with ADHD and their therapists by providing external input for stress and agitation awareness, and by improving the therapist’s ability to gauge a patient's emotional evolution and the efficiency of therapy. 

Marius Rus, co-founder and CEO of Tully, speaks with Andrew Wrobel about how his #startup helps children recognise and manage emotions and gives valuable tips to potential founders working on health solutions.

Mental health is the main medical area in which routine decision-making for diagnoses and treatment choices is primarily based on clinical interviews and observations. Despite the availability of internationally accepted diagnostic and treatment guidelines, the adherence among clinicians to these standards in mental health is low, what is reflected by high rates of misdiagnosis and mistreatment. The unreliability of psychiatric diagnosis and “hit-or-miss” treatment approach remain serious and core problem. 

DocuMental is a unique decision support system, which improves the diagnostic and treatment reliability in mental health by implementing structured and standardized digital workflow, which responds more effectively to the need for better diagnosis, management and outcome, than traditional approach of current mental healthcare systems.

In this episode, Eduard Maron, CEO od DocuMental, spoke with Andrew Wrobel about the challenge he faced as a young psychiatrist and how he created a solution that helps him and his colleagues diagnose mental disorders better.

Did you know that in 2018, one in five men was diagnosed with prostate cancer? 

Currently, the PSA test is used as a biomarker of the disease, but it has low sensitivity and specificity, increased risk of false-positives and it cannot differentiate between benign and aggressive cancer. 

The Stockholm3 test, on the other hand, is a blood test that can predict the risk of aggressive disease and lower the risk of unnecessary biopsies by 50 per cent. It is a joint effort between the Karolinska Institute, Thermofisher Scientific and Synlab. 

In this first episode, Daniela Dias-Santos talks to Martin Steinberg, Stockholm3 Project Leader at Karolinska Institute, and Per Matsson, CTO at Phadia, Thermofisher Scientific. Both are EIT Health partners. They tell us how to involve partners in an innovative project.

Don't forget to visit our website at eithealth.eu/in-your-region/innostars/ for more information about our new programmes, calls for proposals and applications and events.

The first episode of Healthcare Hackers presents FRADE, which stands for Pervasive Platform for Fall Risk Assessment. FRADE is the result of a partnership between Fraunhofer Portugal and the Higher School of Nursing of Porto, with the involvement of the University of Porto — an EIT Health Hub.

Joana Silva, who is a biomedical researcher at Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS and manages the FRADE project, spoke with Andrew Wrobel about her experiences, the opportunities she and her colleagues and partners identified and the challenges like the recent COVID-19 pandemic that they had to overcome.