Oct 29 2012
One Mind for Research and Guardian Angels For Smarter Life (GA) announced an alliance to design a new tool for the treatment of major brain diseases: micro devices that use nanotechnology monitor and transmit biological signals.
A new tool for brain research
One Mind for Research, an independent non-profit organization dedicated to curing the diseases of the brain, and Guardian Angels For Smarter Life (GA), based at EPFL, have announced an alliance to design research projects in North America using the revolutionary GA Zero Power Biosensor and its potential for analysis, monitoring and treatment of major brain diseases. This strategic partnership will be a "Demonstrator" platform in GA’s bid for a €1Billion funding grant from the European Union “Future and Emerging Technologies” (FET).
Swiss-based GA is developing the Zero Power Biosensor, using low power nanoelectronics and nano/microsystems that harvest power rather than requiring batteries or power sources. Potential uses include monitoring of health status, monitoring ambient conditions for environmental danger, and, ultimately to perceive emotional conditions and provide functional activity.
“Our platform will create the ultimate smart device that will assist us from infancy to old age,” said Prof. Adrian Ionescu, co-project leader, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). “One of the key features is its zero power requirement as it will scavenge for energy – think of it as recharging using the environment, sun or movement – a technology that will benefit from bio-inspired concepts.”
Individualized medicine
One Mind, with its mission to accelerate the development of treatments and cures for all major brain disorders, will ensure, through its healthcare-centric mission, the relevance of the Guardian Angels devices in real medical settings, organize field trials and provide necessary medical guidance and feedback.
Magali Haas, Chief Science and Technology Officer for One Mind, stated “The promise of individualized medicine for devastating brain diseases will be hastened through this unique interdisciplinary partnership. Together we will create next-generation technology to solve today’s real-world healthcare challenges.”
These autonomous, self-powered sensors, no larger than a band-aid, can uniquely record in a non-invasive way biological and environmental signals and transmit them automatically. The continuously collected complex medical and environmental data by arrays of sensors embedded in small, lightweight, wearable devices can serve as a data pipeline to drive mobile health technologies, medical decision support systems, disease modeling and other advances in healthcare that have never been possible before or ever even conceptualized.