Life Sci AI: The Podcast

In this great episode, Nick speaks with Eva van Rikxoot, CEO of Thirona, and found out about not only the amazing work they do in medical image analysis but also the fantastic approach to hiring they have had from their foundation. This has led them to be a microcosm of the global community for which they serve!

Eva van Rikxoort is the founder and CEO of Thirona, an internationally fast-growing company in Nijmegen (The Netherlands), specializing in the field of AI-powered medical image analysis. 

Eva obtained her Ph.D. on Segmentation of Anatomical Structures in Chest CT Scans from the University Medical Center Utrecht, followed by a two-year postdoc position in quantitative image analysis at the University of California-Los Angeles.  

Since its inception in 2014, Thirona has established itself as a highly innovative partner for early drug and treatment development through clinical implementation, ultimately aiming at supporting clinical specialists in accurate diagnosis and personalized patient care.

To speak to Nick, please drop an email to [email protected]

In this episode, Nick discusses the incredibly cutting edge world of neural interfaces and the work BIOS is doing to create Neural Digital Therapeutics to help in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. This incredible episode shows what it takes to be a the forefront of AI research within Life Sciences... This is one not to be missed.

Oliver was driven from an early age by a vision that technology could and should repair and support the human body. Oliver studied for his PhD on tissue and materials integration at the Nanoscience Centre, University of Cambridge. He wanted to understand how a device could be implanted inside the human body without harming it. He later moved to Canada to continue his research at McGill University, before founding BIOS in 2015 alongside co-founder Emil Hewage. The two shared a bold vision for reading and writing the nervous system. Oliver was named in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in 2018.

To speak to Nick, please drop an email to [email protected]

In this special episode, Nick speaks with both Mark Lynch and Andrii Kulakovskyi to discuss the new BioIT department at Genomic Vision and how they are using AI and Image Processing to aid drug discovery!

Andrii established the BioIT department (branch of R&D organisation) working on the development of tools for automated fluorescence image processing and analysis in order to deliver new products to help their customers in different sectors of the healthcare market in which Genomic Vision technology is being utilized. Mark joined Genomic Vision in March 2021 to define the product strategy and market segments to drive new growth in the company's molecular combing technology and to contribute to Genomic Vision’s strategy to develop and commercialise new applications by molecular combing.

To speak to Nick, please drop an email to [email protected]

In this first episode to kick off series 2, Nick speaks with Dr Lucien Blondel all about his journey and passion for surgical robotic development!

Dr Lucien Blondel is the CTO and Co-founder of Quantum Surgical SAS, an innovative medical robotics company commercializing the Epione® robot intended to assist physicians during percutaneous ablations in the abdomen. Lucien BLONDEL has 20+ years of experience in medical robotics and medical imaging in both startup and corporate environments.

To speak to Nick, please drop an email to [email protected]

In episode 9, Nick Mahoney, has an in-depth discussion with Dr Vaclav Potesil, Founder of Optellum.

Optellum have recently achieved FDA approval and the world’s first AI-powered Clinical Decision Support Software for Early Lung Cancer Diagnosis. What stands out in this episode is the incredible inception story of Optellum and when/where Dr @Vaclav Potesil chose that the time was right to start this incredible journey.

To speak to Nick, please drop an email to [email protected]

In episode 8, Nick Mahoney, has an in-depth discussion with Renan Sales Barros, CTO of NICO.LAB.

NICO.LAB are revolutionary company based in Amsterdam who have recently secured €13m in Series A funding. They have created a cloud-based AI driven stroke diagnostic tool, which is being utilised across the Netherlands. In this episode Nick speaks to Renan about his incredible journey… considering his first ever job was their CTO!

To speak to Nick, please drop an email to [email protected]

In episode 7, Nick Mahoney, has an in-depth discussion with Jeroen van Duffelen, CBO of Aidence

Jeroen van Duffelen is the CBO of Aidence – a start-up based in Amsterdam who is seeking to harness Deep Learning for Lung Cancer diagnostics through their product: Veye Lung Nodules

To speak to Nick, please drop an email to [email protected]

In episode 6, Nick Mahoney, discusses the incredible work of Blackford with CEO & Founder, Ben Panter. 

The company’s Blackford Platform streamlines the procurement, deployment, use and support of a curated marketplace of clinical application and AI products. The Blackford Curated Marketplace contains over 40 clinical applications, all regulatory cleared and validated in clinical environments. The Blackford Platform manages interactions with the entire radiology clinical workflow through a single integration point. The company’s products are in use in over 700 hospitals, radiology groups and imaging centres worldwide.

To speak to Nick, please drop an email to [email protected]

In episode 5, Nick Mahoney, discusses the incredible work of Cerebriu with Dr Akshay Pai. Cerebriu is using Deep Learning to automate decision making MRI scans to enable an increase in data efficiency giving to Radiologists.

Dr Akshay Pai, PhD, originally from India, currently based in Copenhagen, and a Co-founder & CTO at Cerebriu has more than a decade of experience in machine learning in medical imaging and key inventor across several patents.

To speak to Nick, please drop an email to [email protected]

In this episode, Dr Jonathan O’Keefe, CEO of Machine Medicine joins Nick to discuss Machine Medicine’s innovative medical device in neuromodulation. In the episode, Dr O’Keefe outlines his transition from the NHS to startup CEO and along with Nick, they tackle the ethical limits of Neuromodulation.

Dr O’Keeffe first studied philosophy where he became interested in the interface between artificial and natural intelligence. Subsequently, he trained as a medical doctor and practised for several years while undertaking an MSc in machine learning at UCL and completing a PhD in computational neuroscience at Cambridge. He then retired from clinical practice to start Machine Medicine, a company utilising computer vision to measure physical impairment or disability. Machine Medicine currently focuses on Parkinson’s disease and is being deployed in numerous clinical trials, both commercial and non-commercial.

To speak to Nick, please drop an email to [email protected]