Overview
BlinkLab offers a smartphone-based diagnostic platform that leverages computer vision, artificial intelligence and machine learning. A company started by neuroscientists at Princeton University, Blinklab has developed the technology over the last several years providing an app-enabled, smartphone-based diagnostic tool for evaluating children with neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism and ADHD.
The app turns the mobile phone into a medical device for an effortless way of conducting remote and rapid tests.
BlinkLab’s smartphone-based technology, which uses AI and machine learning (ML), makes it attractive to investors. Like other industries, AI is becoming very popular in the healthcare sector. According to Statista, the AI healthcare market is expected to proliferate from $11 billion in 2021 to $187 billion in 2030. The increasing use of AI is driven by advanced ML algorithms, access to data, and use of 5G technology. AI and ML technologies can evaluate and analyze enormous volumes of data faster than humans.
Artificial intelligence, and particularly machine learning, has the potential to serve as the great equalizer for many behavioural healthcare concerns like autism. According to recent data, 97 percent of adults in the United States own a cellular device, and 85 percent own a smartphone. In emerging economies such as Mexico, South Africa, India, Philippines, etc., most adults have access to a mobile phone of some kind, with 53 percent having access to a phone that can connect to the internet and run apps (a smartphone). As these percentages continue to rise and internet-powered devices become ubiquitous, access to digital services can become democratised on a global scale. While autism spectrum disorder (ASD) services are currently restricted to relatively privileged populations, digital solutions powered by emerging data science methodologies can make access to autism therapy universal.
Large players are investing in this segment to tap into the vast potential of these new technologies. One such example was Pfizer’s acquisition of ResApp. In October 2022, Pfizer acquired Queensland University startup ResApp Health for $179 million. ResApp developed a smartphone technology to detect respiratory diseases using cough analysis accurately. Furthermore, big tech companies such as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet are also now venturing into the AI healthcare market.
Company Highlights
Australia-based BlinkLab is focused on transforming mental healthcare through an AI-enabled smartphone application, a breakthrough technology developed at Princeton University.The company’s innovative approach leverages the power of smartphones, AI and machine learning to deliver screening tests specifically designed for children as young as 18 months old. This marks a significant advancement, considering traditional diagnoses typically occur around five years of age, often missing the crucial early window for effective intervention.Once approved by the regulators, this cutting-edge digital technology is poised to capture the imagination of both investors and major pharmaceutical companies, eager to embrace transformative solutions in healthcare.BlinkLab is led by an experienced management team and leading experts in the field of machine learning, autism and brain development bridging the most advanced technological innovations with groundbreaking scientific research. The company is chaired by Brian Leedman, an experienced biotechnology entrepreneur and founder of ResApp Health, a digital diagnostic company recently acquired by Pfizer.
Key Technology and Applications
Neurobehavioral assays of brain function can reveal fundamental mechanisms underlying neuropsychiatric conditions, but typically require centrally located equipment in a laboratory test facility. Consequently, these tests are often unpleasant for participants as they require instruments attached to their face and cannot be used at scale in daily clinical practice, particularly with paediatric patients.
BlinkLab has developed a smartphone-based software platform, known as ‘BlinkLab Test, to perform neurobehavioural testing free from facial instruments or other fixed location equipment. This AI-based platform is designed to be used at home or in similar environments, independently or with the assistance of a caregiver, while following instructions from the mobile-device application. The tests include, but are not limited to, eyeblink conditioning (EBC), a form of sensory-motor associative learning, prepulse inhibition of the acoustic startle response (PPI), which measures the ability to filter out irrelevant information through sensorimotor gating, startle habituation, which measures the ability for the intrinsic damping of repetitive stimuli and sensory adaptation, and habituation of eye blink response, which serve as biomarkers for neurological and psychiatric disorders.
The BlinkLab App combines a smartphone’s ability to deliver stimuli and acquire data using computer vision with a secure cloud-based portal for data storage and analysis. In the experiments, each audio and/or visual stimulus is presented with millisecond-precise control over parameters such as timing, amplitude and frequency. To maintain participant attention, an entertaining movie of choice is shown with normalized audio levels. Participants’ responses are measured by the smartphone’s camera and microphone, and are processed in real time using state-of-the art computer vision techniques, fully anonymized, and transferred securely to the analysis portal. There, BlinkLab’s in-house AI/machine learning algorithms then perform clustering and statistical analysis to identify the prediction value of the experiment in the particular data set.
BlinkLab Test is initially developed as a prescription diagnostic aid to healthcare professionals (HCP) considering the diagnosis of ASD in patients 18 months through 72 months of age at risk for developmental delay. In collaboration with Princeton University in the US and Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands, the company has conducted several trials using BlinkLab test as an early assessment tool for autism. Autism represents a global challenge, with 1 in 44 children identified with ASD. With no early tests currently available to detect the condition, the majority of children are diagnosed with the condition as late as age five. Blinklab’s mobile app can aid in early detection. The child can watch their favourite movie or cartoon on the phone, and while they watch, the app will record their reactions, providing key information on the functioning of the brain. BlinkLab tests can help with early diagnosis of autism as early as age one-and-a-half, leading to timely intervention that can make a significant impact on the child’s development.
BlinkLab will be subject to regulatory oversight as a medical device and must clear clinical studies. Previous clinical trials done by Blinklab have shown an impressive success rate, achieving sensitivity of 85 percent and specificity of 84 percent. The company notes these trials are very similar to those required by US FDA and have shown a much higher accuracy compared to currently approved products.
In order for the BlinkLab Device to be used as a clinical aid in the diagnosis of ASD, BlinkLab will need to complete a pivotal registrational study and subsequently apply for FDA registration and reimbursement for the tests. The registrational study intends to recruit up to 500 subjects. Enrolments for this study will start during the second half of 2024, with study completion expected by mid-2025. The potential to participate in a disruptive and scalable AI-powered technology close to regulatory approval should attract attention from big medical technology companies.
BlinkLab is led by an experienced management team and directors with a proven track record in building companies and vast knowledge in digital healthcare, computer vision, AI and machine learning. The company’s chairman, Brian Leedman, is an experienced biotechnology entrepreneur and founder of ResApp Health, a digital diagnostic company for respiratory conditions, which was recently acquired by Pfizer for $179 million before reaching FDA approval for their main diagnostic product.
Key Management People
Dr. Henk-Jan Boele – Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Henk-Jan Boele is an assistant professor of neuroscience at the Medical Center of Erasmus University and a researcher at Princeton University. He obtained his PhD from Erasmus University in 2014. Boele has always been pushing scientific and methodological boundaries and received numerous government and industry grants in the field of neuroscience.
Peter Boele – Founder and Chief Technology Officer
Peter Boele holds a bachelor’s degree in history and philosophy from Leiden University. He has over 20 years of experience in software development and has worked with Erasmus University, Leaseweb, Kaboom Informatics and Insocial.
Dr. Anton Uvarov – Founder and Chief Operational Officer
Anton Uvarov holds a Ph.D. from the University of Manitoba and an MBA from the Haskayne School of Business. He has rich experience in bio-technology investments with a particular focus on neuroscience and has successfully led several IPOs. He started his career as a biotechnology analyst with Citigroup, US.
Dr. Bas Koekkoek – Founder and Chief Scientific Officer
Bas Koekkoek is an assistant professor at Erasmus Medical Center. Koekkoek has been working at the Department of Neuroscience mainly in the role of rapid prototype of new technology and techniques for neuroscience. He has numerous publications in the area of brain development including Nature and Science journals.
Professor Sam Wang – Founder and Chair of Advisory Board
Sam Wang holds a PhD from Stanford University. He is a professor of neuroscience at Princeton University, has published over 100 articles on the brain in leading scientific journals and has received numerous awards. He gives public lectures on a regular basis and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and the Fox News Channel.
Professor Chris de Zeeuw – Founder and Scientific Advisor
Chris de Zeeuw is chairman of the Department of Neuroscience at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam and vice-director at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam. De Zeeuw has received over 100 grants, including the Pioneer Award from ZonMw and the ERC advanced grant. In 2006, he received the Beatrix Award for Brain Research from Her Majesty the Queen; in 2014, he became an elected member of the Dutch Academy of Arts & Science; and in 2018, he received the international Casella Prize for Physiology.
This article was written in collaboration with Couloir Capital.