Skolkovo Institute of Science & Technology

The team of researchers designed a miniature sensor device capable of performing complex biochemical analysis, believed to be the most promising approach to the early detection of cancer The hybrid sensor is capable of detecting cancer early. (Credit: HSE University) Russian scientists have developed a nanophotonic-microfluidic sensor that can be potentially used for cancer detection, monitoring and evaluation of treatment response. The team included researchers from HSE University, Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech), Moscow State Pedagogical University (MPGU), and National University of Science and Technology MISiS (MISIS). They designed a miniature sensor device that identifies gases and liquids dissolved in solvents at low concentrations, with a high level of accuracy. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), around 30% of new cancer cases could be prevented, and the same proportion could be cured, with their early detection. The new sensor device is capable of performing complex biochemical analysis, which is believed to be the most promising approach to the early detection of cancer. HSE MIEM professor Gregory Goltsman said: “Our study is an important step towards creating a compact lab-on-a-chip device capable of not only performing a whole set of blood tests but detecting cancer biomarkers at an early stage using a very small amount of the patient’s blood. “Ideally, we aim to create a small portable device neded just a drop of blood. By pressing a button, the doctor would see the results, e.g., that the parameters are normal or that further tests are required.” The new device features nanophotonic optical sensors on a chip, together with microfluidic channels above the sensor surface. The fluids or gases pumped through the channels impact the propagation of optical radiation in the highly sensitive nanophotonic devices, leading to changes in spectral characteristics. Based on the changes in spectral characteristics, researchers can determine the composition of the sample. Human blood contains exosomes, the microscopic vesicles released into the intercellular space by tissue and organ cells, which are important for the preliminary diagnosis of cancers. Exosomes serve as useful biomarkers in oncology, as blood concentrations increase to reach analytically significant values at an early stage of cancer. The research team has not tested the sensor on blood samples but on water solutions of isopropyl alcohol in 20 different concentrations, from 0.08% to 72% by weight. They intend to further refine the device for exosome-based cancer detection. HSE graduate and paper author Aleksei Kuzin said: “Today, the experimental equipment needed for the device operation is rather bulky. The setup includes a peristaltic pump, a tuneable laser, a photodetector, a chip, and a PC for processing the data. “In the future, we hope to produce a compact and portable device for rapid testing that will reduce the time and cost of cancer diagnosis, monitoring and treatment response assessment.”

Women’s health startup Inne raises $10M Berlin-based healthtech startup Inne has raised an additional $10 million (€9.3M) in funding led by DSM Venturing. Borski Fund and Calm Storm Ventures also participated in the round, along with angels Taavet Hinrikus (Wise), Dr Fiona Pathiraja and Rolf Schromgens (Trivago). Inne will use the investment to continue to develop its mini lab and platform to serve more areas of women’s health and expand into the U.S. The startup is expanding its progesterone-tracking feature to perimenopause and adding the ability to analyze stress through a cortisol tracking strip. Eirini Rapti, founder and CEO, Inne, said, “Inne can be the trusted partner for millions of women around the world, democratizing the access to insight and information.” NuvoAir launches remote asthma service in collaboration with 17 NHS trusts Swedish startup NuvoAir is collaborating with 17 NHS trusts to launch a virtual asthma assessment service. The service uses respiratory physiologists and connected home-monitoring technology to assess lung function variability, and a sensor to track inhaler use and technique. NuvoAir founder and CEO, Lorenzo Consoli said: “We’re excited to partner with the NHS and forward-looking clinicians to redesign new care pathways for people with asthma. By blending high touch with high-tech, we’re able to help patients get on the right treatment at the right time to prevent asthma exacerbations.” British digital health startup Healum launches research network U.K.-based startup Healum has launched a research community for people with long-term health conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease. Patients will be invited to shape the ways the newly developed AI technology uses their information and will have the option to share their health data to help others with the same conditions. The community is also open to healthcare providers and researchers who are interested in partnering with patients to learn what approaches work best in achieving health outcomes. Jonathan Abraham, CEO and cofounder, Healum, said: “AI has the potential to unlock many benefits for healthcare if it is guided by the wisdom of the people that deliver and use services.” Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust joins Leeds-Israel Innovation Healthtech Gateway Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has announced it is a partner in the newly launched Leeds-Israel Innovation Healthtech Gateway. This initiative, the first of its kind in the U.K., aims to foster collaboration and support high-growth Israeli tech firms on their expansion to the U.K. Dame Linda Pollard, chair, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “This is a fantastic initiative which will enable us to strengthen our links with Israel and the health sector businesses which are at the leading edge of innovation in healthcare technology." Ongoing IT issues disrupt four NHS hospitals in Greater Manchester An IT system failure at NHS hospitals in Greater Manchester, U.K., has led to some patients waiting for 11 hours in the emergency department. Dr Chris Brookes, deputy CEO and CMO, Northern Care Alliance NHS Trust, said on Wednesday (25) they were still working to resolve “significant IT issues” affecting digital systems at hospitals at Oldham, Bury and Rochdale, as well as North Manchester General Hospital which is run by Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. He added that patients may experience delays across services, but personal data held by the NHS and trust was “secure and unaffected.” AI startup VeinCV gets free access to GPU cloud Solutions Russian medtech startup VeinCV has been given free access to the VK Cloud Solutions platform, which is based on graphics accelerators (GPUs). The spin-out from Moscow’s Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology has developed a medical-imaging system that makes blood draws easier by using neural networks to analyze near-infrared images of veins and project a venous pattern onto a patient’s body. Oleg Rogov, cofounder and CEO, VeinCV, said: "Using VK Cloud Solutions GPUs, the VeinCV team was able to develop and train segmentation models, improving the quality of data received from VeinCV systems by 11%. The image has become better, and cloud computing has accelerated and simplified the further development of the project.”

Denis Rebrikov indicates he plans to ask for approval from three government agencies, including Russia’s health ministry. He told Nature that could take anywhere from one month to two years. In November, a Chinese researcher, He Jiankui, used CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to alter the DNA of embryos for seven couples. The announcement was met by widespread condemnation, investigations and the call for a global moratorium against such research. Now, Russian molecular biologist Denis Rebrikov told the journal Nature he was considering doing the same thing by the end of this year if he gets approval. Jiankui used CRISPR to modify the CCR5 genes in the embryos of the Chinese couples. The intention, at least according to He, was to make the babies more resistant to HIV infection. In all seven couples, the fathers had controlled HIV infections, and inactivated CCR5 genes appear to provide some protection against infection. From the point of view of medical necessity, there was no need for the procedure, which was only part of the criticism of it. In Rebrikov’s case, he wants to disable the gene in embryos that will be implanted into mothers who are HIV-positive. This confers a greater risk of HIV infection to the children than having HIV-positive fathers. The procedure would decrease the risk of passing the virus on to the babies and, according to Rebrikov, would have fewer risks and be more ethically justifiable. Rebrikov is the director of a genome-editing laboratory at the Kulakov National Medical Research Center for Obstetrics, Gynecology and Perinatology in Moscow. He is also a researcher at the Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, also in Moscow. Rebrikov indicates he has an agreement with an HIV center to recruit HIV-positive women who want to take part in the procedure. Further complicating the story is that researchers at UC-Berkeley recently published research that suggested—as many feared—disabling the CCR5 gene has unintended side effects. Analyzing 400,000 records in the UK Biobank, they studied the history of children born naturally with the same edits He Jiankui performed. The researchers found that individuals with two mutated copies of the CCR5 gene had a significantly higher death rate between the ages 41 and 78 than people with one or no copies. They also had a four-fold increased risk of dying from the flu. That research was published in the journal Nature Medicine . Many countries prohibit the implantation of gene-edited embryos. Russia, for example, has a law that bans genetic engineering in most situations. However, as Nature reports, it’s not clear whether or how the ban would be enforced when it comes to gene editing in an embryo. The Russian laws don’t specifically refer to gene editing. Nature also points out that the China law is ambiguous as well. Rebrikov indicates he plans to ask for approval from three government agencies, including Russia’s health ministry. He told Nature that could take anywhere from one month to two years. Jennifer Doudna, one of the discoverers of CRISPR and a molecular biologist at the University of California-Berkeley, told Nature , “The technology is not ready. It is not surprising, but it is very disappointing and unsettling.” Konstantin Severinov, a molecular geneticist who splits his time between Rutgers University and the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology near Moscow, recently assisted the Russian government in designing a funding program for gene-editing research. Severinov told Nature that getting the government approvals might be difficult. For example, he cites Russia’s Orthodox church, which opposes gene editing. Although Rebrikov argues that there is a clear medical need in his situation, most geneticists do not think enough is known about the safety of gene editing to conduct it in embryos, and the value, even in this situation, does not justify the risk. There is also skepticism about Rebrikov’s conclusions about his own techniques, which he published in the Bulletin of the RSMU , of which he is the editor-in-chief. Rebrikov claims that his technique disables both copies of the CCR5 gene more than half the time. Both Doudna and Gaetan Burgio, of the Australian National University in Canberra, expressed doubts about Rebrikov’s data, particularly on whether there were off-target gene edits. At least in Rebrikov’s case, he appears willing to be turned down by regulators.