31 March 2023

Partnership between Academia & Business, follows on from Start-Up, Innovation and Advances in Digital Health.

This is welcome recognition of the strong bonds we have with our academic partner Professor Rohit Shankar MBE.  Currently Professor Shankar is a Professor of Neuropsychiatry at the University of Plymouth Medical School and Director of its Cornwall Intellectual Disability Equitable Research Unit. In his clinical role as Consultant in Developmental Neuropsychiatry, Prof Shankar runs a clinic for people with epilepsy and who also have a learning disability. 

Supported by both Innovate UK and the NIHR, we have worked in close collaboration with Professor Shankar since our incorporation in 2018. During that time we have worked on a range of projects that have enabled us to develop a prototype of the Neuronostics platform, which delivers a report to clinicians that incorporates the BioEP seizure risk score. Rohit was then the lead on our NIHR portfolio adopted study, where we worked in partnership with 8 NHS sites to collate the largest and most well curated database of historic EEG recordings from people with epilepsy and those with suspected epilepsy, who went on to receive an alternative diagnosis. In the end over 800 recordings from over 600 patients were included. By ensuring that every subject included in the database had a stable diagnosis for at least 12 months, we were able to minimize the impact of misdiagnosis that has hitherto now hindered studies into the added value that novel biomarkers might bring to diagnostic decision support. 

Moving forward, we are working with Professor Shankar to deliver a multisite prospective trial of BioEP. Findings resulting from this partnership will help to understand the impact that BioEP has on the diagnostic pathway and the difference that this will make both to people with suspected epilepsy and to the healthcare providers that care for them.

It was a pleasure to join other innovators and industry stakeholders at the awards event held at the M-Shed in Bristol and we thank Medilink South West for the organisation and seamless running of the evening. On behalf of everyone at Neuronostics, we greatly appreciate the recognition of this award and we look forward to seeing you all again at the Nationals in June!