The TURBO program of the Radboudumc and the University of Twente has awarded four grants for new technical-medical research. The research groups can use the grant to develop an innovative idea that should lead to a follow-up request from an external grant provider.
The TURBO program stands for "Twente University RadBoudumc Opportunities". It is in line with the TopFit program that gives substance to the innovation concept "Concepts for a Healthy Life" of the Eastern Netherlands region. TURBO grants are intended as a stepping stone to larger external grants from, for example, national and European funds and companies active in healthcare and technology.
More information about the TURBO program: https://www.utwente.nl/en/techmed/innovation/funds-vouchers/turbo/
One of the awarded grants is for Utku Yavuz from our BSS group and Koen Haak from the Radboudumc:
Improvement of diagnostic and prognostic assessment of patients with a disorder of consciousness: eye and face movements
Every year more people end up with a disorder of consciousness (DOC) after acquired brain injury, and this number is growing due to technologies/treatments that help people survive the acute phase (e.g. AED’s). The care for DOC patients causes significant burden to families, caregivers and society. DOC can be subdivided into 3 categories according to severity: Coma; Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome (UWS), previously known as vegetative state; and Minimally Conscious State. This differentiation is important as each patient category has its own clinical course/prognosis and is therefore used to decide the level of care. Today’s gold standard for diagnosis is a bedside assessment by a professional, using behavioral scales like the Coma Recovery Scale Revised. Signs of consciousness are often detected in response to visual stimuli. However, scoring visual responses is difficult due to fluctuating arousal/responsiveness of the patients and visual/oculomotor disturbances. To tackle this problem, we will test novel objective assessment methods based on advanced eye tracking and face expression analysis technology, resting-state fMRI and artificial intelligence. To reach this objective, we plan to apply for an TTW and NWA grant using pilot data collected in this startup project and by organizing network events and coordination of the grant applications.
