With the six-year PREMSTEM project now complete, we consider how Iconeus contributed to the development of regenerative therapies for brain injury linked to prematurity, and especially the potential for non-invasive, bedside monitoring.
From 2020 through to 2025, Iconeus was an active partner of PREMSTEM. This was a six-year multinational research project, funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, aiming to develop a therapy to repair brain damage caused by premature birth, also known as ‘encephalopathy of prematurity’ (EOP).
The Iconeus One fUS imaging system was used to develop and validate this therapy, which studied human mesenchymal stem cells (HMSCs) in animal models. The aim ultimately was to validate this approach and explore the potential for use in human neonates – which are highly suitable for non-invasive fUS imaging because of the ease with which ultrasound signals can pass through the fontanelle.
Ultrafast ultrasound for ultra-convenient imaging
This point about fUS is highlighted by a researcher involved in PREMSTEM, Associate Professor Bobbi Fleiss from RMIT University’s School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, who says: “This exciting technology can help clinicians to better diagnose brain injury in children in a non-intrusive and comfortable way, keeping babies with their families even as we investigate their brains”.
Ludovic Lecointre, Pharm.D., CEO and co-founder of Iconeus, concludes: “It was a privilege to be involved in PREMSTEM, and we remain keen to get involved in future collaborations involving the use of imaging to study and support clinical interventions for preterm infants with brain damage”.
Find out more about the outcomes of PREMSTEM in this article in the Journal of Inflammation, which describes a systematic scoring system that can be used to optimize the testing of neurotherapeutics in models of perinatal brain injury.
