Innovation: Portable blood cell counter

Scrap the notion that innovation is only for the young. Joe O’Brien (70) has just won the top award at the recent digital health technologies pre-accelerator run by the NDRC.

O’Brien spent a large part of his professional life in the UK where he worked on engineering design in the petrochemical and pharma industries. But work alone was never enough to satisfy his ever-curious and enquiring mind. His interests stretched across many other disciplines including architecture and optics, and O’Brien admits to having an “obsessive interest” in science, especially physics.

In 2012 the idea for what has now become the award-winning Medimorpho Micro Blood Lab was born. O’Brien then spent three years refining the concept for his compact, cloud-based, GSM-enabled portable blood cell counter and measurement device before presenting it as a possible candidate for the NDRC’s digital health technologies pre-accelerator. His idea was one of 13 projects chosen to take part in the five-week programme designed to support very early stage digital health technologies with the potential to solve global healthcare challenges.

In a nutshell, O’Brien’s technology (which is called gel cytometry and can perform the equivalent of flow cytometry) has the potential to revolutionise how blood samples are taken and analysed. At present, samples are sent to labs for processing and little about this method has changed in decades. If O’Brien gets his way, however, every doctor’s surgery in the world will have a Medimorpho, and routine blood samples will be processed by the GP in less than 10 minutes at a fraction of the cost of using a lab. The unit and its discs will be supplied free and Medimorpho will make its money by charging per use.

“Blood analysis requiring the transportation of samples to a lab followed by a wait for results was a problem begging for a solution,” O’Brien says. “The model we have is overly centralised and 80 per cent of the analysis at the world’s 35,000 blood labs is completely routine and could be done at healthcare facilities. Yes, there were complex technical issues to overcome with Medimorpho, but it was a question of becoming immersed and finding the solutions. The machine itself is about the size of a ladies’ Hermès clutch bag, but half the price,” O’Brien says.

The device is scheduled to go on sale in 2017 and O’Brien’s next steps include raising investment of around €250,000 and nailing down some final details of the IP. Since retiring, O’Brien has spent time with Enterprise Ireland evaluating technology projects seeking grant aid, and this experience has stood to him with Medimorpho.

“I’ve looked at over 100 applications and been well tutored by Enterprise Ireland about the importance of having not just a good idea but also a good market,” he says. “Initially I wasn’t too sure about doing the pre-accelerator as I was used to being a mentor rather then being on the receiving end. But I got a really great team to work with and this moved things forward faster than if I hadn’t taken part.”

Unlocking the gait

Edel Browne was just 15 years old when she first started working on her idea for Free Feet (a device to treat gait freezing in those with Parkinson’s Disease) as her project for the BT Young Scientist competition.

“At the time, I didn’t realise the commercial applications of my work, but after winning the Best Individual Award [2nd place overall], I began to see the potential and subsequently took part in the Student Enterprise Awards, the Outbox Incubator in London, and the NDRC Health Tech pre-accelerator,” she says.

Free Feet is a laser device which is attached to the side of a shoe and places a red dot on the ground in front of the wearer. This acts as a guide for the person to follow and helps reduce the severity and length of the freezing episode. Over 70 per cent of those with Parkinson’s experience gait freezing, and pilot testing of the Free Feet device has shown a decrease in freezing severity of up to 40 per cent.

Browne is a third-year Biotechnology student at NUI Galway. She says her mission is to “improve mobility, one step at a time”.

Mood enhancer

MoodSecure is a mood diary app that brings the mood diary concept from paper into the digital age. Its founders are Dan Moriarty and Ruaidhri Finnegan who describe themselves as “passionate about finding simple, real-life solutions that could help those with mental illness”.

The digital diary is designed to help patients keep their therapists informed, in real time, about how they are feeling during their treatment. It also sends them discreet reminders to provide updates on their daily mood (which are inputted into the app) and to take their medication and daily exercise.

“From a patient’s perspective, MoodSecure allows them to better understand and manage their own mental health. From a therapist’s perspective, it gives them insights into how their patients are reacting to treatment and allows them to spend better quality time in session with their patients,” Moriarty says.

“I think our generation has been the first to speak openly about mental health and there are worrying future trend reports suggesting depression will affect one in three adults by 2030,” Finnegan adds. “We all know somebody we care about who suffers with their mental health. We want MoodSecure to be to mental health recovery what crutches are to knee injuries: support until you can manage on your own.”

All going well, the founders hope to launch MoodSecure in about six months.

Health Tech pre-accelerator: a platform for refining ideas

The Health tech pre-accelerator is run by the NDRC in conjunction with e-Health Ireland which is part of the HSE. The ideas presented by the entrepreneurs ranged from digital diagnostic tools to assistive technology and each of the 13 participants was given a team to work with to further refine their idea. The teams were drawn from over 100 people from a variety of health and technology backgrounds that gave their time free to the venture out of interest.