During INNODERM, many technological and scientific advances were made while developing the RSOM and validating its applications for healthcare. Some of the highlights include the:
1. Design, manufacture, and commercialization of the RSOM imaging device, which is now installed in 20 locations around Europe, Asia and the US. Three patents related to the RSOM have been filed, two of which have been granted in Europe, and it is expected that the RSOM C50 will achieve registered medical device status (i.e. CE marking) in 2022. These achievements correspond to the tasks in WP2 (Optoacoustic Transducer Development), WP3 (Portable RSOM Clinical Protoype), and WP6 (Exploitation).
2. Successful validation and application of the RSOM to pathophysiologic diagnosis and treatment research including being able to image melanoma at the single-cell resolution and quantitatively assess inflammation burden due to dermatological conditions like psoriasis, eczema, and allergies. Pre-clinical and clinical studies are ongoing in several locations where RSOM devices are installed, and we expect to outperform the current gold standards for preoperative melanoma depth estimation (ultrasound) and clinical severity assessment of dermatological conditions (PASI Index). These achievements correspond to the tasks in WP5 (Portfolio of Imaging Features).
3. Extension of the consortium with a follow-up EU Horizon 2020 project, WINTHER (Grant No. 871763), which will improve the RSOM further and enable assessment of cardio-metabolic diseases, like type-2 diabetes. This achievement is related to work performed in all WPs.
4. 2021 European Commission ECS Innovation Award, which was presented at the 2021 EFECS Meeting. Additional awards resulting from work performed during the project went to the Coordinator (Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Prize; Karl Heinz Beckurts Prize), lead scientist (DDG Psoriasis Prize), and students (e.g. poster awards at EMIM 2021).
INNODERM includes advancements that go beyond RSOM, including improved high-frequency probe and preamplifier technologies developed in WP2. Sonaxis is now one of the few high-frequency transducer probe manufacturers in Europe and USA, placing them in a strategic position for the fast-growing semiconductor market. We have also promoted growth of our SME partners, iThera, Rayfos and Sonaxis, securing contracts, licensing agreements and EU projects, to continue development, diversify product portfolios, and become market leaders in optoacoustic devices, software and components. Dissemination, Communication and Exploitation (WP6) have also come in the form of 20+ high calibre peer-reviewed publications, and the involvement of students (M.S. Ph.D. medical students, Dermatology Residents), effectively setting the stage for cultivating the next generation of scientists to lead the field of optoacoustic imaging.
Overall, the technological, scientific, and exploitation, dissemination and communication efforts of project INNODERM have been highly successful and ultimately, INNODERM has and will continue to contribute to cooperative efforts to improve European excellence in the photonics technology sector, lessen the burden caused by unnecessary or ineffective treatments in the healthcare industry caused by inadequate means to diagnose and monitor diseases, and improve healthcare for patients by creating more individualized healthcare.
