Aug 15, 2022

ADD TOPIC TO EMAIL ALERTS Receive an email when new articles are posted on Please provide your email address to receive an email when new articles are posted on . Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com . Back to Healio The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research has awarded a research grant to health care technology company Koneksa to evaluate Parkinson’s disease progression using digital measures. According to a Koneksa release, the goal of the project is to predict stages of PD using distinct digital measures as classifiers and longitudinally model disease progression. Source: Adobe Stock. “There are no current diagnostics to detect progression in early PD or in the prodromal (pre-diagnostic) stage, and identifying any predictive digital biomarkers would be a meaningful addition for patients and physicians,” Chris Benko, CEO and founder of Koneksa, said in the release. The study will evaluate a retrospective Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) dataset from the Verily watch, comprised of digital measures (activity, gait, sleep) using Koneksa algorithms along with the application of specialized machine learning techniques, the release stated. The observational PPMI study is sponsored by the foundation. “The Michael J. Fox Foundation continues to fund research efforts aimed at improving the lives of people with Parkinson’s,” Samantha Hutten, PhD, the foundation’s director of translational research, said in the release. “We are proud to support the work of researchers at Koneksa investigating digital biomarkers to evaluate disease progression, as this is a critical unmet need.” In July 2022, Koneksa received its first research grant from the foundation, in collaboration with Northwestern University, to evaluate a measurement concept designed to objectively quantify the severity of PD symptoms, notably vocal abnormalities related to early stages of disease progression. Read more about