The National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) in Singapore and McLaren Applied Technologies have today signed a memorandum of understanding that will allow both parties to begin jointly exploring how predictive analytics more commonly associated with advanced motorsports could be used to help improve patient care.
Applying motorsports insights to neuroscience care
Over a Grand Prix weekend, the McLaren-Honda race team captures an average of more than 12 billion real-time data points from over 300 sensors embedded on its two race cars. Expert analysis of the data allows the team to monitor in real-time and to make detailed analysis and informed decisions to optimise performance. Such technology would be particularly useful when applied in the fields of healthcare and clinical research.
Taking this approach in predictive analytics beyond the racetrack, the NNI-McLaren Applied Technologies MOU paves the way for the two organisations to work closely to improve patient care.
Potential areas of application and collaboration that may be jointly explored include helping clinicians to better monitor, analyse and treat patients for neurological conditions such as head injuries, neurotrauma and hydrocephalus.
Dr Jai Rao, Consultant at the Department of Neurosurgery, NNI, said: "This cross-industry collaboration with McLaren Applied Technologies could help us harness valuable clinical and patient data for deeper analysis into neurological diseases. Just as McLaren-Honda's race team optimises its cars' performance with data and analytics, NNI clinicians hope to do the same for our patients to improve their quality of life."
Dr Adam Hill, Chief Medical Officer for McLaren Applied Technologies, said: "This new joint agreement, supported by our dedicated McLaren Applied Technologies' team based in Singapore, will allow us to begin to jointly scope projects with the NNI where we can apply our cutting-edge technology, expertise and insights to improve both clinicians' ability to help patients and, of course, health outcomes for patients."
Neurological conditions affect the brain, spine, nerves and muscles, and often manifest in abnormal patient movements. An example of a potential clinical application is the use of technology that captures data on patients' precise movements, which allows clinicians and engineers to make detailed interpretation and analysis of patients' gait, physical and physiological characteristics, in relation to their conditions. This would allow for pre-emptive treatment strategies to be devised for individualised patient care.
Associate Professor Ng Wai Hoe, Medical Director, NNI, said, "NNI is excited to work with McLaren Applied Technologies. This collaboration brings new possibilities to the delivery of care for our patients, such as the potential application of predictive analysis that will enable continuous and comprehensive data collection in the home setting which can then be analysed for superior diagnostics and therapeutics.
"Cutting-edge data analytics software could help provide invaluable insights to the wealth of data available from the intensive care setting that may lead to new therapeutic paradigms and protocols for the management of conditions such as traumatic brain injury. The synthesis of McLaren's approach and NNI's academic and clinical expertise will enable us to explore better neuroscience care."
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