Looking at the Axana portable MRI for head/stroke patients, you might ask why no one has thought of this before.
There have been attempts, but they haven’t ever made this far. Doctors Shieak Tzeng and Sergei Obruchkov and their team of bioengineers and physiologists from Te Herenga Waka–Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Otago approached the challenge from a different perspective.
Tzeng has more than 15 years’ experience at the intersection of medicine and engineering as both a former doctor and scientist. The Axana team was awarded the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) Endeavour Fund’s highest rating of Gold Status for their work in creating Axana.
“We looked at what the gas, oil and agricultural sectors were doing. They need NMR, or nuclear magnetic resonance, sensing in the field and that means the magnets must be small. They had to bring the technology to the site – and that’s exactly what Axana is all about,” says Tzeng.
“These industries solved the problem by miniaturing the magnets and making the devices portable, whereas medical science has tried to do it by shrinking the standard donut machines and using lower field magnets.”
Axana uses permanent magnet assemblies that generate low magnetic fields to quickly determine the presence and scale of stroke. The device can produce an image as well as acquire signals over a period of time to obtain monitoring information. Strokes are the principal cause of adult disability in the world and can also result in death. For clinicians to be able to intervene, a quick diagnosis is essential.
Tzeng and colleagues believe improving access to MR technology is crucial in solving long-standing challenges with health delivery, particularly since MRI is the gold standard for stroke detection. However, the cost of, and access to, MRI machines have remained unchanged in two decades, with both the size and cost of the machines limiting access and use as a frontline diagnostic tool.
“Axana requires far less capital investment. It has a significantly lower footprint. We’ve simplified the technology so that any clinical staff can use it – it doesn’t require a specialist operator,” says Tzeng.
“By fusing medical research, design and technology into a portable unit, we’re making the gold standard of clinical imaging more accessible.”
Working with Wellington UniVentures to establish the spinout Wellumio, the team aim to use their technology to revolutionise stroke treatment by shortening the time a stroke patient receives treatment, shifting global statistics. In short, they have created a new category of diagnostic tool that has potential in the pre-hospital market.
In 2017, the team received additional NZ$1 million from the Endeavour Fund to explore whether the sensor could be used to detect other important indicators, such as molecular diffusion in tissue and blood flow to tissue – and it can.
Axana has also been awarded a Callaghan Institute Ārohia Innovation Trailblazer grant, saying “Wellumio is creating a future where anybody, anywhere, suspected of a stroke can receive a pre-hospital diagnosis and begin life-changing treatments within the golden hour.” The institute says, “The treatment of acute stroke is a race against time that requires swift access to computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging - a hospital-based diagnostic technology that currently only 10% of the global population can access.”
The next step is device validation starting through clinical trials, with the latter being conducted at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. “We chose Melbourne because it offered the infrastructure, clinical network and a greater number of hospitals and patients. We’re excited to be activating more sites later this year to accelerate our progress,” says Obruchkov. This effort has been made possible with investment from a syndicate of deep tech investors including Outset Ventures, Nuance Connected Capital, Movac, Curekids Ventures and the New Zealand Capital Growth Partners. With the seed round now under its belt, Wellumio has grown its team and already planning for their upcoming Series A raise.
Wellumio is aiming for the ultimate market – the US – with Axana, using their Australian trials at the springboard, but retaining most of the R&D in New Zealand. The ultimate goal is to provide healthcare professionals with a powerful tool that can rapidly and accurately diagnose a wide range of medical conditions, such as stroke, where time is of the essence.
“We’ve got a world-class team of incredible minds and experience who know how to deliver in deep tech,” says Tzeng. “It’s exciting to be on the cutting edge of this kind of technology that could really make a difference to people’s lives.”
The company credits Sir Paul Callaghan as a source of inspiration. "Our journey has been shaped by the visionary work of Paul Callaghan, who championed scientific innovation as being crucial to New Zealand’s economic growth," says Obruchkov, who trained under Callaghan. "If Paul can take an earthfield magnet to Antarctica, we can take an MRI into our community to save lives."
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