BIOS Health will partner with Mila, McGill University and the Université de Montréal to develop an AI-controlled closed-loop neuromodulation system for chronic cardiac conditions.

The $800,000 partnership will expand BIOS’ involvement with Mila, the Montreal-based AI research institute. BIOS is developing a full-stack neural interface platform that uses AI to decode and encode the signals from the brain to the body, to treat chronic health conditions.

The BIOS team will be working closely with Dr. Blake Richards, Assistant Professor, School of Computer Science, McGill University and Dr. Guillaume Lajoie, Assistant Professor, Applied Mathematics, Université de Montréal in conducting this research.

BIOS opened its first non-European R&D office 18 months ago in Montreal. The purpose was to take advantage of the city’s talent and expertise in AI and deep learning, and to collaborate with the Mila AI hub.

“The research we will be able to conduct means we can develop AI-enabled neural interface treatments that will prove life-changing for patients with chronic diseases,” said BIOS CEO Emil Hewage. “At a time when Covid-19 is highlighting the fragility of health for those with chronic diseases, we are proud to be launching new initiatives.”

The “best hope we have” in neural interfacing tech

BIOS wants patients to have their chronic conditions managed via the nervous system directly by AI, giving personalized and accurate treatments through computer generated neural signals – replacing drugs and changing the lives of millions of people. This partnership will enable BIOS to use Machine Learning to link cardiac activity to neural data and identify the neural biomarkers of cardiac activity that are the building blocks of new treatments.

“In the past decade, direct neural interfacing has established itself as a viable complement, and many times a superior alternative to, traditional clinical interventions,” said Dr. Guillaume Lajoie, an assistant professor at the Université de Montréal. “The next decade is likely to bring paradigm-shifting uses of this novel class of treatments, and BIOS is strategically poised to address the challenges that guard this progress. I am extremely excited to team up with the talented people at BIOS and leverage cutting edge AI techniques to lay the foundation for neural interfacing standards.”

Dr. Blake Richards and assistant professor at McGill Univeristy’s School of Computer Science, said BIOS’ approach of using machine learning algorithms for deciphering neural signals is the “best hope we have” for harnessing the full promise of neural interface tech.

“Neural interface technology represents a potentially game-changing approach to health care innovation,” added Dr. Blake.

This next stage of research will be funded by partners including MEDTEQ (the pan-Canadian Consortium for Industrial Research and Innovation in Medical Technology), MITACS, Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives and BIOS.

BIOS is developing a full-stack neural interface platform that uses AI to decode and encode the signals from the brain to the body, to treat chronic health conditions.