Objectives of the project
In addressing the high economic burden of the healthcare sector, prevention,
early diagnosis and informed therapeutics are indispensable. Tests must be
highly accurate and well integrated into medical management to avoid unnecessary
treatment and stress to users. SmartHEALTH will address these complex issues by
developing highly intelligent diagnostic technologies that are fully integrated
into healthcare systems, optimising their impact in management and work
practice. Driven by key
targeted applications in cancer diagnostics (breast, cervical and colorectal),
the project will deliver prototype systems with the aim of moving
instrumentation from the laboratory, through to portable devices localised at
the “point of care”.
SmartHEALTH technology providing new solutions for cancer monitoring
Cancers are not ‘cured’ but ‘managed’. One of the major areas of progress
with cancers, such as breast cancer, is the benefit of long term therapies for
reducing growth rates. This approach requires regular monitoring such that the
efficacy of maintenance therapy is rapidly noted and different therapy can be
initiated as required. This necessitates regular testing for cancer load. People
wish to avoid hospital yet want results interpreted expertly and communicated
rapidly. They want tests that do not miss problems yet avoid unnecessary worry.
SmartHEALTH aims to develop such an integrated breast cancer monitoring
diagnostic eventually useable in a localised and more available setting.
Project Description
Driven by clinical applications and MNT & IST technology, SmartHEALTH will
develop an open integrated architecture for new biodiagnostic systems to support
European companies exploiting bioassays or new application concepts. The initial
system has a disposable fluidic cartridge with a desktop base-station linking to
the ambient e-Health environment. This concept will be miniaturised and cost
engineered into a portable and more available product. It will perform multi-analyte
sensing and interpretation, for nucleic acids and proteins and will handle
multiple biological sample types. Results will be interpreted and presented
using bio-information analysis. Systems will be healthcare “user identity-” and
“ambient environment-” aware, respecting confidentiality and information access
rights.
The IP will enable enhanced medical diagnosis, leading to earlier and more
precise results contributing to an increased quality of life as well as
increasing the competitiveness of the European IVD sector. Clinical areas for
SmartHEALTH application are in Cancer Diagnostics -
breast cancer recurrence monitoring, cervical cancer
case finding, and
colorectal cancer diagnostics, theranostics and prognostics.
Each application includes clinical validation and commercial exploitation
partners.
This project is partially funded by the European Commission
