THE NEURONAUTE OF BIOSERENITY
Prediction and control of epileptic seizures thanks to new technologies with the intelligent garment of BioSerenity
A young enterprise in the bioincubator of the Institut du Cerveau – ICM, the iPEPS – BioSerenity – developed the Neuronaute, an intelligent, connected garment that will revolutionize the diagnosis and medical follow-up of epilepsy; the aim is personalized care and long-distance follow-up of patients. This type of technological innovation is possible thanks to the Institut du Cerveau – ICM model that associates researchers and enterprises present in the incubator.
This device is an intelligent and connected garment equipped with integrated biometric sensors that record body parameters such as the EEG (electroencephalography) that permits the follow-up and the diagnosis of epilepsy and other neurological disorders at a distance. BioSerenity was one of the 5 finalists preselected for the Grand Prix de l’Innovation of the City of Paris; the prize will be attributed on December 2, 2014. Pierre-Yves Frouin, President General Director of BioSerenity will tell us about the present and future perspectives for this intelligent garment.
“Our team consists of 14 persons, most of whom are engineers. We have with us Dr. Mario Valderrama – a Columbian university professor, doctor of electrophysiology and epilepsy specialist – and Dr. Sylvain Zorman – an engineer from the Ecole Centrale, doctor of biophysics – both of whom pilot the clinical development of our device. Because of our strategic implantation in the Institut du Cerveau – ICM, we benefit from great proximity with the researchers, clinicians and neurologists of Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital, in particular, Pr. Vincent Navarro, with whom we work on epilepsy.
We now have a functional prototype of Neuronaute with which we are able to demonstrate recordings. The next steps for us are, on the one hand, to obtain the “CE label” – Conform to Exigencies authorizing the commercialization in Europe of medical devices and the associated clinical studies and, on the other hand, the industrialization of this connected garment for which will be accompanied by the Institut Français de la Mode – the IFM – in relation with our textile engineer Marion Gouthez. This collaboration will enable us to work on the constraints related to high quality industrial production and valorise the aesthetic and ergonomic aspects for the comfort of the patients.
Finally, we are collaborating with Dr. Michel Le Van Quyen on the interpretation of the electrophysiological signals to better understand epilepsy and facilitate diagnosis. Our technologies are developed in symbiosis with basic and clinical research in the Institut du Cerveau – ICM.
VORACY FISH FROM BRAIN E-NOVATION
Rehabilitation of stroke victims thanks to “Serious Games” of LabCom BRAIN e-NOVATION
Based on the interaction between researchers, physicians, clinicians and engineers, LabCom BRAIN e-NOVATION, a joint laboratory of the Institut du Cerveau – ICM and the GENIOUS group that makes video games, created “Voracy Fish” a “serious game” – a therapeutic game – aimed at the reeducation and rehabilitation of stroke patients (in relation with Marie-Laure Welter, coordinateur of LabCom)
To create a partnership between the Institut du Cerveau – ICM and the GENIOUS group, an enterprise that produces video games, we created a joint laboratory Brain e-NOVATION with the aim of creating “serious games” – therapeutic games aimed at reeducating and rehabilitating patients suffering from neurological and psychiatric disorders. The therapeutic game “VORACY Fish” was created for stroke victims, to help them re-educate their upper limbs.
The principle of video therapeutics is that they can be used at home or in an institution (doctor’s office or hospital). The patient can play by himself, with a member of his family or in a network with other patients. The performance of the patient is monitored at a distance thanks to a technological platform that records different parameters of the motor behaviour of the patients that are analysed by therapists who can adjust the video game as a function of each patient and his progress.
The idea of a “therapeutic video game” aimed at overcoming both the difficulties encountered by patients in conventional rehabilitation and their possible loss of motivation due to repetitiousness and the difficulty of finding a therapist. The interest of this type of innovative treatment intended to be amusing is to combine different components of human behaviour: motricity with body movements, cognition with challenges and different levels of success, associating the motivational and emotional aspects with the amusing side of the device.
The idea of Brain e-NOVATION is to include these games – which they consider to be complementary to re-education with practitioners (therapists, physical therapists) – in clinical tests to evaluate and demonstrate the efficacy and the interest of this type of treatment and tool, Voracy Fish for stroke, or other types of pathology.
Progressive multiple sclerosis: a success for MedDay
Development of a new treatment for progressive multiple sclerosis
MedDay, a biotechnology company incubated in the Brain and Spine Institute that develops treatments for nervous system disorders, announced in April 2015 that the main criterion of its pivotal clinical trial MS-SPI was reached. The MS-SPI trial tested the efficacy and the safety of MD1003, a highly concentrated, pharmaceutical quality biotine, taken at a dose of 300 mg per day to treat progressive multiple sclerosis.
The main criterion of the study was the proportion of patients that showed improvement after nine months of treatment and confirmed after 12 months. The results were presented for the first time during the plenary session on clinical trials at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) in Washington D.D.