Two medical technology projects from Addenbrooke’s Hospital have secured a share of £3m in national funding to support work on acquired brain injuries.
The projects are among 35 selected through the Invention for Innovation (i4i) Funding At the Speed of Translation (FAST) 4 Awards, run by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
The programme supports healthcare technologies to prevent, diagnose and manage acquired brain injury (ABI), and recovery from ABI caused by trauma, stroke, tumours or infection.
The funding will help address evidence gaps identified in the Concussion in Sport Research Forum’s report, published in September 2024.
It was developed in partnership with the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Brain Injury at Addenbrooke’s and the Defence Medical Services.
Dr Newcombe, a Royal College of Emergency Medicine professor and academic consultant in neurosciences and trauma intensive care medicine and emergency medicine at Addenbrooke’s, is working with Dr Ben Davies, a neurosurgical resident at the trust.
Dr Newcombe said: “I’m delighted that this funding will enable us to expand the app I’m developing as part of my NIHR Rosetrees Trust Advanced Fellowship to include assessment of movement and coordination.
“Psychomotor slowing is a key issue following traumatic brain injury, and this development will help us better understand and monitor patients’ recovery,”
FAST is designed to provide targeted funding for innovators who need to answer a specific question or undertake a single activity to advance a technology or intervention.
One of the 35 funded projects is led by Dr Virginia Newcombe of Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Her project, “Integration of interactive and passive movement assessments into an App for mild traumatic brain injury (I am brain aware – Movemed),” focuses on tracking psychomotor slowing — a common post-injury symptom involving delayed speech, thought and movement.
Another winner is Dr Laura Watson of Cambridge University Hospitals.
Her project, “Predicting energy requirements in traumatic brain injury using 3D body shape app and indirect calorimetry,” is being carried out in collaboration with Dr Alasdair Jubb, a consultant in neurosciences, trauma intensive care medicine and anaesthesia at the trust.
Dr Watson is a metabolic physiologist based in the NIHR Cambridge Clinical Research Facility at Addenbrooke’s.
Professor Peter Hutchinson, director of the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Brain Injury, said: “We are delighted to partner with the NIHR i4i Programme on this competitive FAST themed call, and have been impressed by the number of high quality applications received.
“This significant investment will make a real difference for patients and their families, unlocking the opportunity to further develop novel HealthTech and generating evidence to support the uptake of these innovations. Congratulations to all 35 awardees.”
Also among the 35 selected projects is Dr Daniel Whitehouse of the University of Cambridge, whose work focuses on “Prehospital sampling of brain injury biomarkers in mild traumatic brain injury: a feasibility study.”
