Neuralink's brain-chip implant takes a leap

Hello and welcome to the first edition of Supermedic!

An especially big welcome to the new folks who have joined us in the last days! 🙌

In case you forgot, Supermedic is your weekly digest committed to guiding you through the rapidly changing medical world, offering the freshest curated content at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Healthcare. 🌊

Skipping the fluff, here's the rundown of what you're getting in our today’s menu:

TODAY’S MENU

Telepathy Becomes Reality💭: The first human Neuralink patient can now control a mouse just by thinking.

New Hope for Heart Disease ❤️: Lab-grown human hearts are training AI models to detect cardiac problems with precision.

Can AI Help with the Clinician Burnout Rises📈? Automating routine tasks, streamlining workflows and relieving the administrative burden.

AI Reveals Brain Sex Differences 🧠: Researchers report an AI tool accurately predicts sex from brain scans in 90% of cases.

Bioptimus Raises $35M to Revolutionize Biology🧬: Scientists team up to build the first universal AI foundation model for biology.

FUTURE IS NOW

Neuralink's brain-chip implant takes a leap

We might just have the very first official Cyborg walking among us right now!

Elon Musk's brain-computer interface company, Neuralink, has achieved a significant milestone. Their first human participant, implanted just last month, has not only recovered well but can now control a computer mouse using its thoughts alone! While controlling a mouse may seem basic, it marks a significant step towards their goal of enabling direct brain-computer interfaces for humans.

The implant, named Telepathy, is designed to help those with severe physical disabilities control digital devices through thought. While ethical considerations remain, this breakthrough offers us a brief insight into the firm’s progress as it works towards restoring lost abilities like movement and sight and enhancing others like memory and intelligence.

AI + HEALTH

New Hope for Heart Disease

Scientists at the University of East London are pioneering a project by developing heart organoids from human stem cells, marking a significant step in heart health research. These organically grown hearts, intended to last for about 28 days, lay the groundwork for an AI tool that aims to improve heart disease detection.

The study focuses on the challenge of heart cell deterioration due to aging, exacerbated by the heart's poor regenerative capacity. Cardio-scientist Prashant Jay Ruchaya highlights a striking issue: the heart's cells renew at such a low rate that by the age of 80, about half of them vanish, posing obstacles to reversing heart cell damage.

STUDY

As clinician burnout rises, how can technology help?

The latest Physician Sentiment Survey by The Harris Poll highlights a critical level of burnout among doctors, with 93% feeling regularly stressed and many considering leaving the profession due to heavy workloads and administrative demands. The survey points to the urgent need for solutions to improve clinician wellbeing amidst growing bureaucracy and regulatory challenges.

Technology, especially AI, emerges as a beacon of hope, offering the potential to ease burdens by automating tasks and enhancing patient communication. Despite some concerns about losing personal touch, optimism remains for AI to streamline healthcare, making it more efficient and focused on patient care. The key lies in integrating AI thoughtfully, ensuring patient safety while addressing the factors contributing to physician burnout.

STUDY

Unveiling brain sex differences with AI

Stanford Medicine has unveiled an AI model that distinguishes between male and female brains with over 90% accuracy using MRI scans.

The research, led by Vinod Menon, PhD, reveals specific brain networks that differentiate sexes, offering insights into psychiatric and neurological disorders with sex-specific impacts.

This discovery underscores the importance of sex in brain organization and suggests new directions for personalized treatment, reinforcing the need to consider sex differences in medical research and therapy.

BUSINESS

Ex-Google DeepMind and Owkin scientists team up to build the first universal AI foundation model for biology

Bioptimus, a Paris-based AI startup, is carving a niche by focusing on biology, aiming to revolutionize how we handle sensitive clinical data. With $35 million in seed funding and a team led by industry experts like Jean-Philippe Vert and Rodolphe Jenatton, the company is set to tackle the challenges of biological research with AI.

Partnering with Owkin and leveraging vast datasets from global academic hospitals, Bioptimus is dedicated to advancing disease diagnosis, precision medicine, and the creation of new biomolecules. Bioptimus's journey in enhancing biotech research with AI models holds a very promising perspective for the future.