News
Project news, updates, and announcements.
EUPHORIA kick-off meeting hosted by iThera Medical, Munich
The EUPHORIA consortium met for a kick-off meeting at iThera Medical GmbH in Munich, Germany on February 1, 2019. iThera develops and markets biomedical imaging systems based on a novel biophotonics technology, Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography (MSOT).
The project meeting included representatives from all five partners distributed across four European countries. After a welcome by EUPHORIA Coordinator Philipp Bell of iThera Medical and introductions around the table, Kylie O’Brien of Pintail Limited presented the project management objectives and tasks with attached deadlines. Frédéric Brochin from IMASONIC, a leader in ultrasonic technologies and solutions, facilitated discussion on optimizing the transducer. This process will incorporate the identification of technological and use requirements from clinicians.
Meeting delegates were taken on a facility tour led by Elena Mercep, a Senior Product Engineer at iThera Medical.
Vassilis Sarantos of RAYFOS presented plans for software adaptation. RAYFOS is a UK-based leader in optical engineering and real-time processing systems. Maximilian Waldner of University Hospital Erlangen provided interesting background information about inflammatory bowel diseases including disease complications, non-responders to drugs, the lack of biomarkers, clinical scores and the current standards of treatments. Above all, Max highlighted the clinical relevance of the EUPHORIA project. The University Hospital Erlangen has extensive experience with imaging technologies for medical diagnosis, as well as in the preclinical and clinical research of inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Their role within EUPHORIA is to further validate the new MSOT technology in the clinic. Certification and reimbursement plans were presented by Nina Dahlhaus of iThera Medical, and Danielle Nicholson of Pintail Limited facilitated a discussion which centred […]
EUPHORIA press release, 30 January 2019
iThera Medical to lead €2.3m research project to advance inflammatory bowel imaging technologies
The European Commission has awarded a €2.3 million ‘Fast Track to Innovation’ project grant to a consortium led by the Munich-based medical device company iThera Medical. Part of the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, the aim of the grant is to improve the sensitivity and effectiveness of MSOT, Multispectral Optoacoustic Tomography, in detecting and managing inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Beyond technical improvements, the new project, ‘EUPHORIA’ (Enhancing Ultrasound and PHOtoacoustics for Recognition of Intestinal Abnormalities) will also support the transition of MSOT from clinical research use to routine diagnosis.
IBD is a common chronic condition, where patients suffer from recurring episodes of intestinal inflammation. Currently, it is diagnosed and monitored using endoscopy which causes patient discomfort and potentially severe complications such as colon perforation. MSOT has the potential for rapid, simple and non-invasive detection and monitoring of IBD, by pulsing laser light through the skin, and then interpreting the acoustic signals generated by light absorption in the colon wall. The system generates ultrasound and optoacoustic images that enable the assessment of inflammation in the colon wall. Because of its non-invasive nature, MSOT can be used more often, and thus could improve monitoring of patients in remission and during treatment. Dr. Philipp Bell, Chief Commercial Officer of iThera Medical, emphasizes the potential of MSOT in the context of EUPHORIA: “We are excited that the EUPHORIA funding will allow us to bring a non-invasive and fast diagnostic […]