DEEP TECH HEALTH + NEUROTECH
Following its patent application for a pill that “paints” cancer cells for scanner detection, Google has filed a new patent for a wearable to detect and destroy the painted cells. It describes a Calico developed device that “can automatically modify or destroy one or more targets in the blood that have an adverse health effect”. These could […]
As a company devoted to improving the human condition through health innovation, ApplySci was delighted to hear yesterday’s ResearchKit announcement. The framework allows people to easily join health studies, and simplifies the process by bringing research to one’s phone. ResearchKit’s first tests detect Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and breast cancer. Apple worked with 12 institutions to […]
In a recent study, MIT Media Lab‘s Max Little used machine learning tools to indicate early Parkinson’s Disease in a group of smartphone users. Phones were given to Parkinson’s patients and a healthy control group. The built in accelerometer enabled Little to distinguish between those with and with out the disease with 99% accuracy. The detection method relied […]
University of Chicago professor Leslie Osborne believes that the classic Atari game “Pong” is ideal for tracking eye movement, therefore helping diagnose Parkinson’s, TBI or autism Osborne’s lab focuses on eye movement behavior, known as smooth pursuit, that allows eyes to track moving targets. At the recent Brain Research Foundation conference, her paper showed that “when motion becomes predictable, gaze […]
University of Wisconsin professor Justin Williams and colleagues have developed a graphene based, transparent sensor implant to help researchers better view the brain. Unlike existing devices, the sensor’s micro electrode arrays work in tandem with imaging technologies. This could improve neuromodulation therapies used to control symptoms, restore function, and relieve pain in patients with hypertension, […]
Intel and the Michael J. Fox Foundation have combined smartwatches with analytics software to gauge the impact of Parkinson’s medications. (Intel press release here.) 25 clinical trial participants wore (originally crowdfunded) Pebble watches to track tremors, gait, sleep patterns and other indicators for four days. 300 data points per second per patient were relayed to the […]
UNSW Professor Gary Housley used electrical pulses from a cochlear implant to deliver gene therapy, successfully regrowing auditory nerves. Until now, the “bionic ear” has been largely constrained by the neural interface. In the study, Professor Housley and colleagues used the cochlear implant electrode array for novel “close-field” electroporation to transduce mesenchymal cells lining the cochlear perilymphatic […]
Kinesia’s HomeView and ProView technologies provide standardized platforms to quantify Parkinson’s disease symptoms in the clinic and at home. Physicians have the tools to quantify tremor, assess dyskinesia and measure bradykinesia remotely. A patient uses a take home kit, programmed to specific symptoms and treatments,to complete motor tests several times a day. The patient can also enter […]
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=could-a-simple-ankle-sensor-help-with-parkinsons-symptoms University of Alabama professor Emil Jovanov is developing a sensory cue device to detect freezing of gait episodes that lead to falls and serious injuries. It uses sensors embedded in a shoe or attached to the ankle. As soon as the system senses a gait freeze, it transmits an auditory cue (such as the […]
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=eye-tracking-software-may-reveal-autism-and-other-brain-disorders USC’s Laurent Itti and researchers from Queen’s University in Ontario have created a data heavy, low cost method of identifying brain disorders through eye tracking. Subjects watch a video for 15 minutes while their eye movements are recorded. An enormous amount of data is generated as the average person makes three to five saccadic […]