University-supported enterprise picks up regional award
Kartheka Bojan collects the Digital Innovation of the Year award at the LeicestershireLive Innovation Awards from host Jason Bradbury.
An innovative healthcare collaboration supported by the University of Leicester has been recognised with a regional award.
BrainBerry, supported by the University’s Leicester Innovation Hub, was named Digital Innovation of the Year at the LeicestershireLive Innovation Awards earlier this year.
Our memories, lived experience and personal connections make us who we are. However, for those suffering with Cognitive Impairment, vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and their families their condition gradually drains the recollection of special memories and connections with loved ones.
Kartheka Bojan’s personal experience of Alzheimer’s disease with her grandmother led her to found BrainBerry enabling her to create novel, unique and effective therapies to combat the effects of the condition.
Beginning in 2018, Ms Bojan began collaborations through the Leicester Innovation Hub with Professor Elizabeta Mukaetova-Ladinska of the Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour at the University of Leicester. The support received enabled completion of a pilot proof-of-concept study and formal clinical trials for a new app; COSMA.
COSMA is a world first, representing the only clinically-validated, therapeutic gamified app capable of generating quantitative cognitive data and providing demonstrable improvements in patient symptoms. In clinical trials, users saw improvements of 36% in cognitive processing, decision-making and motivation, 60% improvement in motor skills and a significant suppression of negative mood over a 1-month period.
COSMA provides individuals with dementia needing support with a personalised platform and care package with regular updates accessible to their families. This enables improved cognitive and emotional wellbeing for all with users receiving an individually targeted intervention and their families being able to provide input and monitor their loved ones’ progress. The data collated by the app feeds through to specialist COSMA therapists who use it to engage with patients and carers weekly to assess, monitor and guide.
In August 2021, BrainBerry began clinical trials to deliver the first clinically validated early intervention product for individuals with dementia and was recognised as the Digital Innovation of the Year at the LeicestershireLive Innovation Awards in September.
BrainBerry is currently developing a wearable headset to broaden the gaming therapies provided by COSMA to target an individual’s brain activity and generate a personalised targeted digital treatment.