Year 1 Pilots

Grant Funding: a2 Collective Pilot Award for attachment-less smartphone blood-pressure monitoring advancement

The Billion Labs Inc team led by Ed Wang has received a GY3 pilot award to further develop and achieve FDA clearance for a novel zero-attachments, smartphone only solution, VibroBP, to enable ubiquitous, low-cost blood pressure monitoring. The VibroBP technology was a result of the GY1 pilot work on the BPClip. Limitations of the mechanical solution led to the software only innovation. Source: https://massaitc.org/2024/04/19/a-downloadable-oscillometric-bp-monitor-for-all-smartphones-with-no-attachments/#

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Grant Funding: a2 Collective Pilot Award for “Creating a Framework for Large Language Models for Caregiver Support in Dementia (CARE-ALL)”

The team including Drs. Vahia and Sava and previous a2 Pilot awardee, Rippl (formerly known as Kinto) received GY3 pilot award to explore the use of LLMs to support caregivers of individuals with dementia. Source: https://massaitc.org/2024/04/18/creating-a-framework-for-large-language-models-for-caregiver-support-in-dementia/

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Poster Presentation: <conference name>

Title: Accelerometer-Measured Physical Activity Improves Predictive Validity of Fried Frailty Phenotype for All-Cause and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality: UK Biobank Authors: Lingsong Kong, Dae Hyun Kim, Chi Hyun Lee, Cassandra N. Spracklen, Susan R. Sturgeon, John R. Sirard, Amanda E. Paluch Abstract:  Introduction: Fried Frailty Phenotype (FFP) is a widely used frailty measure defined by five criteria: unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, slowness, weakness, and low physical activity (PA). Low PA is typically assessed by self-report, which is less accurate than accelerometer-based measures. This study examined whether accelerometer-measured PA improves the predictive validity of FFP for mortality. Hypothesis: Frail and prefrail older adults would have higher risks of all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality than robust individuals. FFP incorporating accelerometer-measured PA would show stronger associations with mortality than that using self-reported PA. Methods: This prospective cohort study included 38,429 UK Biobank older adults (mean…

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Oral Presentation: Novel Technological Approaches for Detection of Cognitive and Functional Impairment

This is part of the monthly MassAITC webinar series. Abstract:  This webinar explored cutting-edge technologies aimed at improving early detection and monitoring of cognitive and functional impairments in older adults. Dr. Kate Papp (Mass General Brigham) opened the session by highlighting the challenges of traditional clinical assessments—lengthy, labor-intensive, and inaccessible to many—and the promise of scalable, remote, and ecologically valid digital tools to address the growing needs of an aging population. Three MassAITC pilot awardees presented innovative approaches: Dr. Eric Larson (Sonde Health) discussed testing a vocal biomarker platform that leverages AI to detect and monitor cognitive impairment via smartphone-based voice samples collected in home environments. Early findings show high participant engagement and promising accuracy in distinguishing cognitive status. Dr. Jennifer Stamps (Rendever) shared progress on a multimodal virtual reality (VR) fitness platform that combines physical exercise,…

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New Product Versions: Sonde One app (vocal biomarker research platform)

Sonde One app (vocal biomarker research platform) has incorporated two new capabilities whose development was funded through this pilot project (Mobile Monitoring of Cognitive Change "M2C2" mobile cognitive assessments and audio playback functionality). Sonde already makes it research platform available to collaborators in other studies and these upgraded functionalities will be made available to interested researchers.

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NIH Research Highlight: Smartphone clip attachment may help some people self-monitor blood pressure

NIA-funded researchers have developed a low-cost, universal attachment that some people may be able to use with a smartphone to measure blood pressure from their fingertips. News of the device was published in Scientific Reports. Hand holds blood pressure device, pulse from finger of other hand is being measuredPrototype of the BPClip, courtesy of the Digital Health Lab/University of California, San Diego.University of California, San Diego researchers developed “BPClip” for at-home access to blood pressure monitoring, especially for people who find it difficult to access health care services. A plastic clip attaches to a smartphone camera and is used with a custom smartphone application to measure blood pressure from the pulse at the user’s fingertip as the finger presses into the clip. Other cuffless devices require calibration using blood pressure cuffs. BPClip does not —…

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