Rare diseases, projects that want to combat atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome
Here are and what they consist of the winning projects chosen by Alexion and H-Farm on the occasion of the Hackaton "Rare Hack for New Ideas" on World Day of Rare Diseases
On 24 February, on the occasion of the World Day of Rare Diseases, Alexion Pharma Italy, part of AstraZeneca, together with the innovation platform H-FARM, announced the winners of “Rare Hack for New Ideas”.
The Hackathon was conceived with the aim of identifying innovative solutions capable of responding to the unmet needs of the atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, an ultra-rare disease (AHUS).
WHAT IS THE SEUa
AHUS is an ultra-rare disease that progressively damages vital organs, mainly the kidneys, causing damage to the blood vessel walls and blood clots. AHUS occurs when the complement system, a component of the body's immune system, activates uncontrollably by attacking its own healthy cells.
It can cause sudden organ failure or progressive loss of function, which can lead to the need for transplantation and, in some cases, death. AHUS affects both adults and children, as well as many critically ill patients who often need supportive care, including dialysis, in intensive care units.
Prognosis can be difficult in many cases, so timely and accurate diagnosis, as well as treatment, is key to improving the effects on patients. Currently available tests can help distinguish aHUS from other hemolytic diseases with similar symptoms.
HOW THE HACKATON WORKED
The call for participation in the Hackathon was open to university students and startups from 25 November 2021 to 19 January 2022. In a subsequent phase, the 4 finalist projects that participated in the Hackathon event, held on 22 and 23, were selected. February.
During the two days of Hackathon, the teams worked on their ideas flanked by a team of experts. A jury made up of specialists in rare diseases and Alexion selected two winning teams, one for each challenge, considering the criterion of innovation and the ability of the solutions to concretely help the scientific community and improve the prognosis of people affected by HUS. The two winning teams won a prize of € 15,000 each.
THE WINNING PROJECTS
There were two winning projects that responded to the two challenges launched by the Hackathon: facilitate recognition and speed up the diagnosis time of the disease; promote a more efficient connection between centers and experts.
The first project, focused on diagnosis and recognition of the pathology, was carried out by four physicists from the Department of Physics and Earth Sciences of the University of Ferrara, who proposed to apply sensor technology to the preventive diagnosis of aHUS.
The SERSE (Atypical Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome Electronic System) project aims to create a device for the identification of aHUS through a non-invasive in-vitro methodology which will consist in the collection and analysis of a urine sample. The instrument will be calibrated with urine samples from healthy and aHUS subjects and the software will be fine-tuned.
The other winning project concerned the connection between centers and experts. WelMed, a startup based in Milan with a team of 17 people proposes a platform that helps the connection between experts and allows the sharing of data. The advanced solution allows experts to facilitate referrals to Treatment Centers, promote the network among the stakeholders involved in patient care, facilitate the multidisciplinary approach, increase the number and timeliness of diagnoses and ensure therapeutic appropriateness.
THE COMMENT OF H-FARM
"The well-being of people today is fundamental more than ever: we have always been convinced of the social implication that technology and digital can play, enabling tools in identifying improvement solutions that put the human being at the center", said Tomas Barazza CEO of H-FARM Innovation.
“In this case – he continued – innovation can play a crucial role in perhaps improving the crucial point of this rare disease: its timely recognition. We are proud to have made our expertise available to this ambitious goal ".
THE COMMENT OF ALEXION
"The Rare Hack for New Ideas project combines creativity and innovation with the aim of identifying solutions that can improve the lives of people living with the AHUS", said Anna Chiara Rossi, VP & General Manager Italy, Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease .
“We are happy to have reached the end of this important journey and to be able to announce the winners on the occasion of the World Day of Rare Diseases, a fundamental awareness raising event for those living with a rare disease. We hope that the Hackathon projects can contribute to solving some of the challenges still present for those who live with aHUS and thus improve their quality of life ".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/malattie-rare-i-progetti-che-vogliono-combattere-la-sindrome-emolitico-uremica-atipica/ on Fri, 25 Feb 2022 12:15:27 +0000.