Eleven research projects are sharing slightly more than $700,000 through the Jump ARCHES research and development program. Among the projects are efforts to use blockchain technology to reward healthy behaviors, develop a machine learning algorithm to detect pulmonary changes, and use historical multimodal data for earlier detection of pancreatic cancer. The Jump ARCHES program is a partnership between OSF HealthCare, the University of Illinois College of Medicine, Peoria (UICOMP) and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

Many of the awards represent new projects, while a few build on previously-funded efforts, including a project that continues efforts to develop sensors that can detect stress and anxiety among health care workers. Another supplements previous ARCHES-funded research to further advance use of virtual reality in pre-surgery planning. Proposals often include a multidisciplinary approach, involving clinicians, engineers and social scientists to rapidly create and test solutions for pressing health care needs.

“We look forward to seeing how these research outcomes can ultimately better support patients and clinicians to enhance prevention and treatment efforts,” Dr. Vozenilek adds.

Elizabeth Hsiaso-Wecksler, PhD, interim director of the UIUC Health Care Engineering Systems Center and professor of mechanical science and engineering, emphasizes the importance of the ongoing collaboration.

“These new projects will leverage the interdisciplinary expertise at UIUC and OSF to make fundamental advancements in technology that has major impacts on our personal health. We are grateful for the support of Jump ARCHES in investing in research with real and measurable impact.”  

Highlight Project-Incentivizing healthy behaviors with smart phone app on blockchain platform

It’s challenging to get people to follow medical advice such as exercising more and taking medication as prescribed. Research shows 50% of people don’t take medication properly. OSF Innovation Engineer Tate Ralph says the project he is working on explores using a new application built to integrate with blockchain technology that could allow for de-identified data to be matched with rewards for healthy behavior, while still meeting the spirit of consumer protection and privacy laws.  Read the full story here.

Here are summaries of the complete list of Jump ARCHES award projects for spring 2022.  

Twenty research projects are sharing slightly more than $1.4 million in funding through the Jump ARCHES research and development program to address a variety of vexing medical challenges including neurological testing for children and athletes (such as concussions), migraines, and stress among nurses enduring pandemic challenges at home and at work. The Jump ARCHES program is a partnership between OSF HealthCare and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I) and the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria (UICOMP).

The funding supports research involving clinicians, engineers, and social scientists to rapidly develop technologies and devices that could revolutionize medical training and health care delivery. Many of the awards represent new projects, while some will build on previously funded efforts.

“These projects highlight areas where OSF HealthCare and our partners are committed to making advancements, including: COVID-19 recovery, personalized medicine, data security, health literacy to underserved populations, support for those giving bedside care, as well as improvements in neurological diagnosis/treatment, according to Dr. John Vozenilek, vice president/chief medical officer, OSF Innovation & Digital Health. He adds, “We know digitally connected health systems, powerful data analytics, and new innovative approaches offer the promise of universal standard care and health knowledge for everyone we serve.”

“The grant awards reflect areas of tremendous research success on the U of I campus at the intersection of engineering and medicine, which began at our very own Health Care Engineering Systems Center,” said T. Kesh Kesavadas, director of the Health Care Engineering Systems Center at U of I Urbana-Champaign. “The Center has established itself as a leading innovator on campus where researchers solve problems faced by real clinicians in hospital settings with technology such as AI-based intubation and IoT sensor-based masks.”

Meenakshy Aiyer, MD, interim regional dean of UICOMP stresses collaboration and innovation are the key to advancing healthcare. “These Jump ARCHES grants showcase the exciting possibilities that exist when the best and brightest minds from across disciplines unite for the greater good.”

Highlight Project- Assessing Concussions in Two Minutes

Assessing concussions in both children and adults has been a challenging problem which relies on self-reported symptoms. Adam Cross, MD, FAAP is a pediatric hospitalist and clinical informaticist,  and an assistant professor of Clinical Pediatrics at UICOMP.  He also directs the Jump Simulation and Education Center’s Children’s Innovation Lab.  Cross and his team have come up with a smart device application that uses a phone-based mixed-reality game to detect performance impairments such as those commonly seen in concussion.
Read the full story here.

Here is a full list-description of the latest Jump ARCHES-funded projects.

Video Clip with Dr. John Vozenilek, vice president/chief medical officer, OSF Innovation & Digital Health

All too many times, high school, college or even pro athletes push to be able to stay in play after a hard hit during a game, or they push to get back on the field after they’ve been held out due to a concussion. While sideline testing is done, it has limitations.

The so called FlightPath application being developed by researchers at the Jump Simulation and Education Center’s Children’s Innovation Lab is a game that takes only two minutes to complete, so it can be used on the playground or the sidelines to easily confirm a suspected traumatic brain injury.  Adam Cross, MD, FAAP is a pediatric hospitalist and clinical informaticist who directs the lab. Dr. Cross, is also an assistant professor of Pediatrics at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria. He says unlike typical exams, his app does not rely on someone being truthful about their symptoms, such as an athlete who downplays their symptoms to stay on the field.

“Because they want to keep playing - we term that ‘sandbagging.’ And the current tests that we have really don’t protect against sandbagging. They’re so reliant on people being honest with their symptoms that if somebody doesn’t want to tell you, there’s not a whole lot you can do. But this application that we’re using is meant to test all of the different ways in which a concussion can manifest, and there are many.”

Eventually the app could be downloaded for an Apple or Android device and will measure the physical, perceptual, and visual impairments caused by a brain injury. The game asks the user to capture a virtual hummingbird within the user’s actual environment – which is how the “mixed reality” is created.

Dr. Cross explains, “We have a set of complex algorithms that determine how the bird should fly in that space to better test your abilities. If it detects you’re having trouble in a certain way, it actually will go back and test that kind of movement to get a good sense of what’s going on with that particular impairment.”

The mixed reality system also requires the individual to move around physically to follow the hummingbird which tests the user’s coordination and balance.

“That actually requires you to not only move your hands and arms up and down but also reqires moving throughout the room (or location). You have to walk, you have to turn, you have to look up and down and all that requires vision; it requires reaction time to move with the hummingbird. It requires balance and it also requires a little bit of memory as you watch the bird leave the screen and figure out where it was going if it goes very quickly. It adapts itself to your performance in order to best test that threshold where you start having trouble.”

The game app creates thousands of data points every minute which are analyzed using machine learning techniques. Those results can speed up time to diagnosis which improves treatment and recovery. It also helps a person’s care team understand how impairments are improving over time. While current tests can be memorized after a few sessions, the FlightPath app has randomized but constrained paths that are never identical, which prevents the user from simply memorizing the hummingbird’s flight pattern.

Dr. Cross has applied for additional federal grants, to supplement grant funding through the Jump ARCHES program, speed up development and testing, which will include offering free downloads and small incentives for individuals with no symptoms of a concussion to play the game. That data will provide a necessary performance baseline for comparison against other users with known manifestations of concussion.

While the app could be ready for pilot testing within six months, Dr. Cross says it could take a few years for the federal  Food and Drug Administration to approve for clinical use.

Video Clips with Dr. Adam Cross, pediatrician hospitalist and informaticist, OSF HealthCare

B-roll of FlightPath app in use