Technologies and competencies to support cognitive early diagnosis in premature newborn

Title of the research project
PARENT - PremAtuRe nEwborn motor and cogNitive impairmenTs: Early diagnosis
Scientific area
Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience, Personalized Medicine
Abstract
PARENT will use a multidisciplinary approach to challenge early diagnosis of newborn motor/cognitive impairments. PARENT will combine the efforts of a multidisciplinary and inter-sectorial network of several leading European research groups, industry partners, pediatric hospitals and associations to develop an innovative training context for 15 young researchers.
Description of the research project
Preterm birth (before 37 completed weeks of gestation) is the main cause of neurodevelopmental disabilities. Early diagnosis of brain injury/dysmaturation as well as early detection of impairments are crucial to improve the well-being of children and their families, allowing for developmental monitoring and optimization of therapeutics options.
PARENT project is dedicated to enhancing technologies for detection and rationalization of clinical data from premature infants and follow-ups of newborn at risk for neurological injury. A highly multidisciplinary work will be developed through the individual projects of 15 young researchers related to clinical data analysis, images collection and processing, biomarkers detection, data fusion, machine learning, statistical mechanics, enhanced sampling, mechanistic and network modelling, prediction algorithms.
To succeed in this challenging action, the project will rely on a large consortium of leading European research groups, industry partners, pediatric hospitals and parent’s associations contributing to train young researchers in multiple fields such as clinical analysis, machine learning, artificial intelligence, data management in health care, ethical questions connected to the project. PARENT will thus develop a new paradigm for evidence-based medicine, precision medicine and patient center-care, as well as decision support systems in the neuroscience technologies clinical field.
Impact on researcher’s career and on society
A new cohort of researchers will be ready for challenging multidisciplinary projects requiring cross dialogue capabilities between medical doctors, engineers, data scientists and biologists.
By implementing a European, inter-discipline, inter-sector training network in the field of neuroscience technologies, computer science and developing applications to clinical diagnosis and decision support systems for healthcare, PARENT will create new cross-discipline research expertise and hands-on clinical-oriented and industrial experience with the final objective of understanding and enhancing the quality of life of premature children and their families.
Working group @Polito
Marco Agostino Deriu, Project coordinator, Associate professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - DIMEAS
Jacek Adam Tuszynski, Full Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - DIMEAS
Umberto Morbiducci, Full Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - DIMEAS
Michela Sperti, Ph.D. student, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - DIMEAS
Marcello Miceli, Ph.D. student, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - DIMEAS
List of beneficiary organizations
Fundación para la Gestión de la Investigación Biomédica de Cádiz, Spain
Universidad de Cádiz, Spain
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
KU Leuven Universiteit, Belgium
Bambino Gesù Hospital , Italy
NEUS Diagnostics, Slovenia
Icometrix, Belgium
7HC srl, Italy
TOELT LLC, Switzerland
GPI, Italy
List of partner organizations
Nene Foundation, Spain
The Hospital for Sick Children, CANADA
SUPSI, Switzerland
Advanced Neuro Strategies, LLC, USA
Intelligent System Biology, Greece
Città della Salute e della Scienza, Italy
PARENT project has received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, Grant Agreement No.956394
- Budget: 3.800.000 euro
- Start date: 1/11/2020
- End date: 31/10/2024