Conducting Research Projects in Neurorehabilitation: (Pre)Clinical Trials, AI Solutions and Neuro-Imaging

Short summary An Austrian research centre with expertise in stroke and neurorehabilitation is looking for private and public partners to collaborate in neurorehabilitation projects on new technologies or to evaluate new therapy approaches to improve patients outcomes and quality of life.

Full description The Austrian Research Centre on Stroke is funded by a national program conducting clinical trials and translational research. With scientific shareholders, it is a national competence centre in the field of stroke diagnosis, prevention, and neurorehabilitation. The research centre's Neurorehabilitation division and research group is recently set up and aims to improve the quality of life of stroke patients. Specific expertise lies in the conduction of randomized controlled trials regarding motor learning (including augmented feedback and augmented reality), functional electrical stimulation, oral processing, swallowing and speech therapy. The centre is strongly connected to clinics and offers its expertise in clinical trials and provision of data and samples for analyses. In combination with clinical trials or as stand-alone projects, the research centre also has expertise in processing and analysing neuro-imaging data. Now, the aim is to develop new technologies in neurorehabilitation and to evaluate existing technologies, therapy approaches and assessments together with scientific and industrial partners. The division has experience in establishing national and international partnerships with universities, research centres and hospitals. Interested in clinical and translational research, the division is looking for collaborations with company partners to apply for national, international, and industrial projects.

Advantages and innovations Compared to the conventional methods used in neurorehabilitation, the research centre's approach intends to ensure the best recovery of neurological functions after disease by maximizing everyday life reorganization of patients through technologies like artificial intelligence and neuro-imaging. Advantages are: a higher effectiveness in the rehabilitation of neurological patients and the development of knowledge in this field. From a patient's point of view, advantages are the increased accessibility of rehabilitation at home or even remote areas, as well as a higher degree of comfort and autonomy As such, the overall objective is to improve the quality of life of neurological patients, which in turn will improve the quality of life of their families and the quality of life of the society at large.

Technical Specification or Expertise Sought In the field of medical research and development, there are several areas in which technical expertise is sought. The research centre is looking for scientific and company partners that are developing new and innovative therapy approaches in the centre's field of expertise (stroke & neurorehabiliation) in a pre-clinical development or ready for conducting clinical trials. The Austrian research centre is ambitious to partner in these areas to develop new treatments and technologies that can improve the lives of patients and advance medical knowledge. The expertise sought and knowledge of partners may cover broad topics such as biomedical engineering, electronics & automation, speech processing & swallowing kinematics, virtual environments, functional electrical stimulation, robots and/or neuroimaging. Partner's expertise in product design, usability interfaces and hardware & software development is required. Further, the analysis and processing of imaging data in terms of knowledge in imaging technologies and data analysis techniques are crucial. Partners are required to support scientific research and development related to the neurorehabilitation of stroke patients

Contact / source: NEXT EEN Widgets (europa.eu)