The Australian Government has announced $100 million investment in the development of new technologies to improve diagnosis and treatment of stroke, epilepsy and lung disease, including COVID-19. $28.8 million will go toward the Australian Lung Health Initiative's 4D Functional Diagnosis project. This groundbreaking project will deliver revolutionary lung scanners that are safe, rapid, and easy to use for children. The scanners will allow functional analysis of lung health and can be immediately applied to managing COVID-19, establishing Australia at the forefront of lung science, and kick-starting a high-value, high-tech industry. | https://alhi.com.au/about/

New Zealand-based ARANZ Medical's Silhouette wound telehealth program will be established as a VA national platform by the US Department of Veteran's Affairs. The new agreement with distribution partner Iron Bow Technologies, LLC, will include a national server and new hardware and software upgrades. This global solution will assist patients and providers by reducing cost of care, waiting times and improve patient experience. Veterans with wounds will have access to significantly improved care. | https://www.biospectrumasia.com/news/53/17667/nz-unveils-national-platform-for-wound-telehealth-assessments.html

A recent pilot study has shown the possibility for a smart watch to bridge the gap between doctors and patients, by monitoring symptoms in Parkinson's disease sufferers. A new application developed by Apple Inc, the Motor Fluctuations Monitor, will allow doctors to monitor patients via built-in hardware such as gyroscopes and accelerometers that can detect and measure subtle motor movements. A study published in Science Translational Medicine used the Apple smartwatch and app to follow 225 patients with Parkinson’s over the course of half a year. There is currently no cure for Parkinson's disease. | https://www.labroots.com/trending/clinical-and-molecular-dx/19800/smartwatches-close-eye-parkinson-s-patien

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati are working to extend the lives of those with head and neck cancer through a new combination therapy. As the sixth most common cancer worldwide with high return rates, it is truly life-altering. The study combined radiation therapy with telaglenastat to stop a key enzyme in a cell pathway that alters in cancer cells and causes cells to grow rapidly and resist treatment. Using animal models, the drug reduced the growth of the cancer cells up to 90% and increased the efficacy of radiation in animals by 40%. | https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-01-drug-therapy-effective-neck-cancer.html.

Australian company Microbio has been awarded a Federal Government Accelerating Commercialisation Grant to commercialise a new diagnostic assay to rapidly identify 26 of the most common pathogens that cause bloodstream infections and sepsis. The InfectID-Blood Stream Infection (BSI) diagnostic assay is a real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) identifies the pathogen causing the infection in about two hours to enable patients to be treated with targeted antimicrobials in a timely manner. Sepsis kills around 11 million people around the world each year. | https://microbio.com.au/news-and-events/ 

CSIRO researchers have developed an implantable iEEG monitoring and seizure detection system for traumatic brain injury patients. This new system will monitor patients post-surgery to track brain activity and potential epileptic sizure development. Current monitoring systems are only available in hospital with bulky devices for up to 24 hours, whereas the new system is portable, addressing unmet clinical needs.  |https://research.csiro.au/cybernetics/brain-implants/