Impulse - Meeting Healthcare Pioneers

Wearables bringing back the ability to walk for paraplegics: this is the world in which Tristan Vouga is evolving.

Passionate by the field of robotics and willing to have an impact on society, he turned his PhD thesis into the Swiss startup Twiice.

The company is developing a modular exoskeleton, bringing back the ability for its users to stand, walk, climb stairs and even go on a ski tour!

Beyond the technological achievement and the numerous awards it has won in international contests, their platform has the potential to transform the lives of many paraplegics as well as amputees.

We talked with Tristan about his transition from PhD student to entrepreneur, about their exoskeleton capabilities, the feelings of “ownership, embodiement and agency” that are key to a seamless human-machine interaction, and about how innovation can be derived from science-fiction!

Timeline:

• (01:44): Tristan’s introduction and background in wearable robotics
• (03:22): Moving to the US to explore brain-controlled exoskeletons
• (08:10): Description of the exoskeleton Twiice, how it operates and supports paraplegics
• (10:52): The importance of embodiment, ownership and agency in human-machine interactions
• (12:42): Leveraging brain signals to control wearable exoskeletons
• (14:03): Generating haptic feedback to enhance the feelings of ownership, embodiment and agency
• (15:57): Developing an exoskeleton for ski touring
• (18:38): Exploring new use cases for amputees
• (21:01): Innovative commercial models to distribute the cost of ownership among patients
• (22:59): A clinical trial to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of Twiice in a community setting
• (24:29): Seamless human-machine interaction as a key differentiator
• (26:16): Moving towards an exoskeleton not requiring crutches
• (30:20): The Cybathlon and competing against other exoskeletons
• (35:02): Dealing with the frustration of access hurdles for patients
• (36:11): Coping with the demand from patients while driving R&D efforts
• (38:17): Transitioning from PhD student to entrepreneur
• (40:18): Drawing inspiration from science-fiction

What we also talked about with Tristan:

Lucien Blondel is one of the leading figures in the field of surgical robotics, having already led the development of several platforms supporting orthopaedic, spinal and brain surgeries.

Together with Quantum Surgical, which he co-founded alongside Bertin Nahum, Fernand Badano and Sophie Roca, they are addressing liver cancer through a new robotic platform supporting ablation procedures.

Under the name of “Epione” (the goddess of care in the Greek mythology), it represents a breakthrough in this field, not only supporting surgeons in the execution of the ablation procedure, but also in the planning phase up to the validation of the surgical act.

Through a combination of cutting-edge image processing technology, computer vision and haptics, Epione is on its way to revolutionize interventional oncology and improve access to liver cancer ablation, for patients and for surgeons.

We exchanged with Lucien on his background, what brought him to surgical robotics, the specificities of this field, his role in leading the technical development of Epione, and its underlying promise in the cure of liver cancer.

Timeline:
02:09 - 04:11: Lucien’s introduction and background in surgical robotics
04:51 - 07:04: How he got into this field and what drove his interest to it
07:43 - 13:25: The uprising of surgical robotics and key developments over the past years
14:16 - 19:36: Identifying the right disease area and type of intervention
20:02 - 22:15: The type of cancer targeted by Epione and the surgical act it complements
22:49 - 24:53: Enabling percutaneous ablation beyond interventional radiologists
25:02 - 26:37: Applications of Epione beyond liver cancer
27:20 - 32:22: Epione’s components and workflow
32:51 - 35:13: Synchronizing the patient’s breathing to the robotic arm positioning
35:43 - 38:06: Synergies between Epione and other platforms previously developed by Lucien and his team
38:22 - 40:56: Moving towards fully autonomous surgical interventions
41:20 - 42:22: The meaning behind “Epione”
43:11 - 45:21: Suggested resources to dig deeper into surgical robotics
45:34 - 47:55: The “Why”

What we also talked about with Lucien:

Cardiovascular diseases represent the leading cause of deaths worldwide. Despite the permanent progress in the treatment of such conditions, targeted prevention approaches remain a key solution to address this issue.

This is the challenge that Imageens, a Paris-based startup led by Ted Baldwin, is tackling through the application of artificial intelligence to medical imaging, with the aim to quantify your arterial age. This specific biomarker unvails unique opportunities to anticipate heart conditions for people at moderate risk, with the promise to inform better clinical care decisions.

We exchanged with Ted on the burden that cardiovascular diseases represent on a global level, the power of AI applied to medical imaging to discover early indicators of these pathologies, and how these insights can drive better personalized prevention programs to stay away from them.

Timeline:

01:50 - 05:18: origins of Imageens
06:23 - 08:16: unmet need that Imageens is addressing
08:53 - 12:56: existing cardiac risk scores and the arterial age concept
13:10 - 15:36: technical approach to quantify the arterial age using MRI and AI
15:41 - 20:10: relationship between biological and arterial ages
20:32 - 22:56: MESA trial led by Johns Hopkins University and its link to the discovery of cardiac risk scores
23:26 - 30:09: Imageens softwares Artfun+ and LABEL, their functioning and role in predictive imaging biomarkers discovery
30:21 - 31:05: moving beyond MRI to other imaging modalities
31:35 - 33:21: target patient population and access to Imageens technology
33:43 - 36:09: acceptance by physicians and the medical community
36:48 - 37:30: patient journey description
38:00 - 40:24: moving towards predictive analysis of the optimal cardiac prevention program


What we also talked with Ted about: