The University of Melbourne will make pre-seed investments to help two revolutionary female-founded healthcare startups, the revolutionary being pregnant monitoring startup Kali Healthcare and the recruitment startup Torch Recruit for scientific trial members.
Kali well being careco-founded by the University of Melbourne Associate Professor Fiona Brownfoot, has developed a small wearable system and sensor patch that precisely picks up the newborn’s coronary heart charge, bettering comfort and entry to being pregnant monitoring for regional sufferers. Tragically, every year greater than 2,000 Australian households are affected by stillbirth, with 1 in 130 pregnancies claiming their lives.
Currently, high-risk pregnant girls should journey to the hospital for an ultrasound to measure the fetal coronary heart charge to seek out out if their child is in misery. The ultrasound sensor have to be positioned instantly over the newborn’s coronary heart, with girls typically bedridden throughout monitoring classes and through labour. Due to the excessive value and staffing necessities of ultrasound gear, it is just obtainable in giant tertiary hospitals, or with lengthy ready occasions in smaller hospitals.
Associate Professor Brownfoot, who additionally works as a midwife at Mercy Hospital and Epworth Freemasons, mentioned: “At Kali Healthcare we have developed a new fetal monitoring system. It consists of a small wearable device and a sensor patch that accurately picks up the baby’s heart rate. It is easy to apply and opens up the possibility of home monitoring during telehealth consultations. It also allows women to be active during labour, without the fetal heart rate dropping, which is a game changer for our patients, midwives and obstetricians.”
The co-founders of Kali Healthcare Dr. Emerson Keenan and Professor Marimuthu Palaniswami mentioned that with a $500,000 pre-seed funding from the University of Melbourne and continued help from growth companions, the fetal coronary heart charge monitoring expertise will likely be accelerated to the pivotal scientific trial section by subsequent week. yr.
A brand new scientific device has been developed that helps physicians robotically determine sufferers eligible for scientific trials and enhance the range of scientific trial members Torch recruitbased by the University of Melbourne Associate Professor Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis.
Torch Recruit was developed within the Department of General Practice on the University of Melbourne to enhance the quantity and variety of sufferers taking part in scientific trials very important to creating new medical remedies. Traditionally, recruiting members for scientific trials takes many months, and greater than 80 p.c of trials fail to enroll sufficient sufferers.
Western Health and the college have every dedicated $250,000 in pre-seed funding funding for enterprise growth and enlargement of the household observe community partnering with Torch Recruit.
Associate Professor Manski-Nankervis mentioned: “Clinical trial recruitment is a huge problem, and we saw an opportunity to address this by bringing more trials to the community, including regional and rural Australia. This strategy addresses the delays that can result from not being able to translate research into practice if you don’t recruit patients on time.
“Australia is an attractive location for clinical trials and this is a growth area. As we attract more trials, we need to ensure we can deliver on our recruitment. We see ourselves as a key player in providing infrastructure to support clinical trial recruitment. in community settings, where the majority of Australians receive their medical care.”
Both Associate Professor Jo-Anne Manski-Nankervis and Associate Professor Fiona Brownfoot of Kali Healthcare are supported by the university’s Women’s Founders Network, created to empower women in the university community interested in pursuing a start-up and get in touch with each other.
“The network provides a supportive environment where female founders can discuss their successes and failures, the lessons learned and the specific challenges women face in launching their startups,” mentioned Associate Professor Manski-Nankervis.
University of Melbourne Executive Director, Innovation and Enterprise Heather St John mentioned that whereas girls entrepreneurs face particular challenges, essential progress is being made to enhance founder range. Ms St John mentioned: “Startups have traditionally focused on male founders and the barriers are multifaceted for female founders, especially in the early pre-seed stage.
“The University recognizes that early investment and support is critical to ensuring that our female founders are well positioned to develop and develop their ideas into an investment-ready start-up,” mentioned Ms St John.
These investments are a part of the college’s ongoing dedication to supporting the creation of essential new entrepreneurial alternatives for our world-class researchers, college students and alumni, in addition to medical analysis institutes and hospitals affiliated with the University of Melbourne.
Source: www.unimelb.edu.au