#53 - Engineering living tissue therapeutics - Simon Mackenzie - Cellbricks Therapeutics

To discover the whole episode, type "#56 - Building the one clinical AI assistant - Ali Parsa - Quadrivia" on your preferred streaming platform.

What will our interactions with our healthcare system look like in the age of AI? Whether you are a patient, a doctor, or any other stakeholder in that system, the question is worth asking. In a world where healthcare costs continue to skyrocket, it is clear we need a radical solution to reverse the trend. The broader challenge is to restore the balance between demand and supply of care, limited by our capacity to train new doctors. Among those relentlessly working on this task are Ali Parsa and his team at Quadrivia. A true veteran of healthcare entrepreneurship, Ali founded Circle Health Group, now the largest chain of private hospitals in the UK, and Babylon Health, the fallen European digital health unicorn that once pioneered the use of AI for remote medicine, symptom checking, and patient triage. Despite all the highs and lows and whatever may have been said about his journey, Ali remains driven by the same mission: making healthcare more accessible and affordable at scale. Today, his efforts are focused on building Qu, which he aims to establish as the gold standard for clinical AI assistants, serving patients, doctors, and the broader ecosystem of actors in the space. In this episode, Ali reveals the inner workings of this formidable tool, showcasing its ability to automate repetitive tasks that healthcare professionals face daily, and the opportunity it offers patients by being available around the clock to advise, educate, and ensure continuous medical supervision. We also discuss the key role of healthcare professionals in the validation of Qu, how to approach the risks and European regulations to make it widely available, and finally, the time and caution required to confidently integrate AI into patients' lives and routine clinical practice. A fascinating conversation that outlines the future of our interactions with the healthcare world! Timeline: 00:00:00 - Ali’s journey as an entrepreneur building healthcare institutions and digital health solutions 00:11:52 - Why healthcare is not affordable nor accessible in the current system 00:16:17 - The interactions where AI will play a crucial role in healthcare (including a demo of Qu!) 00:25:06 - An approach to validate clinically the behaviour of AI in healthcare 00:29:54 - Ali’s observations on the current struggles around AI regulation in healthcare 00:37:22 - Making AI customisable to accommodate different clinical care practices for similar use cases 00:40:01 - Judging a clinical AI’s performance relative to the real performance of healthcare professionals 00:45:10 - Ali’s ambition and Quadrivia’s plans for the next few years What we also talked about with Ali: Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) Bakul Patel FDA Lovable Modality Partnership We cited with Ali some of the past episodes of the series: #47 - Pushing responsible AI in health - Dr. Ricardo Baptista Leite - HealthAI As mentioned by Ali during the episode, you can have a read at Thinking Machines Lab’s publication “Defeating Nondeterminism in LLM Inference” from September 2025, to dive deep into the nondeterminism problem around the use of LLMs. You can get in touch with Ali via LinkedIn, and follow Quadrivia’s activities on their website and on LinkedIn. ✉️ If you want to give me feedback on the episode or suggest potential guests, contact me over LinkedIn or via email! ⭐️ And if you liked the episode, please share it, subscribe to the podcast, and leave a 5-star review on streaming platforms! 🙏 You can also support my work by doing a PayPal donation @ImpulsePodcast! 👍 Lastly, don’t forget to follow our activities on LinkedIn and our website!

Do you know how organs are traditionally transported for transplantation purposes? In a cooler filled with ice. When I learned that this approach was the most widespread method, I admit I was quite shocked... We talk here about "living" organs whose preservation is crucial for the success of their transplant! And as you can imagine, these transplants are often vital. The good news is: some people have racked their brains and rolled up their sleeves to change all that! And one of them is none other than Lisa Anderson, Co-Founder and President of Paragonix Technologies. With her team, she has literally redefined how organs could be transported, wiping the slate clean of an archaic, despite standard method. Last year, their technology was named one of TIME’s 200 Best Inventions in the Medical Care category. A technology that allows organs to be preserved and monitored under ideal conditions of temperature, pressure, and perfusion. Since its creation in 2010, the company has enabled the transport of over 10,000 hearts, lungs, kidneys, livers, and pancreases combined to date. A paradigm shift, which not only allows for better preservation of these tissues during transport but is also accompanied by a surprising improvement in transplant outcomes, and helps democratise access to them. We talk about all of this with Lisa, from the complexity of developing such a system to the change management required to lead to its acceptance in the medical field. And everything that this changes for the patients who benefit from it every day. A conversation that dusts off a long-established medical practice and lifts the veil on a unique MedTech success story! Timeline: 00:00:00 - How Lisa got into the transplantation and organ transportation space 00:05:54 - The criticality of organ preservation before a graft 00:08:27 - The parameters to control when transporting organs 00:11:38 - The benefits of improved organ preservation on graft success 00:19:01 - Paragonix Technologies’ clients and commercial models 00:21:20 - Sustainability considerations in the organ transportation business 00:25:29 - Paragonix Technologies’ plans for geographic expansion 00:28:00 - The journey from A to Z of an organ between its donor and recipient 00:30:56 - Changing practices and mindsets around organ transportation 00:33:20 - The engineering challenges around the creation of Paragonix Technologies’ first products 00:40:07 - Matching better the demand and supply of organ transplants What we also talked about with Lisa: Getinge As mentioned by Lisa during the episode, you can have a read at Paragonix Technologies’ latest publications here and find out more about their products and technology on their website. You can get in touch with Lisa via LinkedIn, and follow Paragonix Technologies’ activities on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and YouTube. ✉️ If you want to give me feedback on the episode or suggest potential guests, contact me over LinkedIn or via email! ⭐️ And if you liked the episode, please share it, subscribe to the podcast, and leave a 5-star review on streaming platforms! 🙏 You can also support my work by doing a PayPal donation @ImpulsePodcast! 👍 Lastly, don’t forget to follow our activities on LinkedIn and our website!

To discover the whole episode, type "#55 - Reinventing organ transportation - Lisa Anderson - Paragonix Technologies" on your preferred streaming platform.

While studies have yet to prove a direct causal link, the correlation between smartphone use and declining mental health is well-established, a trend especially concerning among young people. But what if the same technology contributing to the problem could also be the solution? It turns out the therapeutic potential of our smartphones for mental health is no longer up for debate, and one company at the forefront of this revolution is HelloBetter. In this episode, we dive into the fascinating world of digital cognitive behavioural therapy with Hannes Klöpper, its Co-Founder and CEO. Hannes breaks down how his team developed one of the world's most extensive portfolios of digital mental health therapies, covering conditions from depression and burnout to panic attacks and vaginismus. These treatments demonstrate how digital-first solutions can be remarkably effective, prescribable by healthcare professionals, and accessible anytime, anywhere. We also explore the game-changing potential of AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) in mental health, and how they are opening new frontiers for preventing and detecting mental health symptoms early! Timeline: 00:00:00 - What drew Hannes to the cause of HelloBetter 00:05:55 - The power of delivering cognitive behavioural therapy through a smartphone 00:11:50 - How HelloBetter supports patients as an intervention for mental health distress 00:16:20 - The mental health conditions for which HelloBetter provides digital therapeutic programs 00:20:24 - How the therapeutic performance of HelloBetter’s programs is evaluated 00:25:39 - The duality of smartphones as vectors of mental illnesses and vehicles for their treatment. 00:28:54 - What AI and LLMs change for mental health care 00:39:15 - How Hannes keeps his own mental health in check What we also talked about with Hannes: Vaginismus Panic attacks ChatGPT Technical University of Munich Stanford University As mentioned by Hannes during the episode, you can have a read at Exits & Outcomes, Second Opinion, and Healthtech Off The Record, three newsletters that provide in-depth insights and news about the healthtech business. You can get in touch with Hannes via LinkedIn, and follow HelloBetter’s activities on their website, LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and Facebook. ✉️ If you want to give me feedback on the episode or suggest potential guests, contact me over LinkedIn or via email! ⭐️ And if you liked the episode, please share it, subscribe to the podcast, and leave a 5-star review on streaming platforms! 🙏 You can also support my work by doing a PayPal donation @ImpulsePodcast! 👍 Lastly, don’t forget to follow our activities on LinkedIn and our website!

To discover the whole episode, type "#54 - Making the smartphone a psychiatrist - Hannes Klöpper - HelloBetter" on your preferred streaming platform.

Is there a future where we will manufacture entire organs? If that's the case, it’s not tomorrow. Yet, the era of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering is very much real and happening now! In some fields, like in dentistry, we are already 3D printing implants that are placed in patients' mouths. In others, like in orthopedic or plastic surgery, cells are harvested from patients to be modified and placed back into their bodies. But what we can't do yet is create complex, functional tissue constructs that can actively remodel and integrate with the human body to restore physiological function. This is the challenge that Simon Mackenzie and his team at Cellbricks Therapeutics are striving to overcome. The technology they have developed is fascinating, sitting at the crossroads of biomaterials, cellular engineering, and 3D printing. A discipline that aims to create the first "tissue therapeutics." The prospects it opens up are incredible: building grafts to heal complex wounds, functional implants for the liver, pancreatic islets for insulin production, and much more! In this episode, we explore the inner workings of this fascinating field and the road ahead before the first tissue therapeutics are used routinely in the clinic, from a technical and regulatory perspective. A thought-provoking conversation offering a glimpse into what a truly "regenerative" medicine could look like in the future! Timeline: 00:00:00 - Simon’s background as a Biochemist and seasoned executive in the life sciences industry 00:08:28 - Defining bioprinting, biofabrication, and tissue therapeutics 00:12:56 - Cellbricks’ mission to recover tissue loss thanks to engineered tissue therapeutics 00:20:52 - Current evidence on the therapeutic potential of biofabricated tissues 00:24:55 - Cellbricks’ biofabrication platform to engineer living tissues 00:30:33 - The challenges around the transport of biofabricated tissues 00:35:36 - The path toward broad use of biofabricated tissues in medicine What we also talked about with Simon: Erik Gatenholm Cellink BICO Aspect Biosystems Daniela Marino Cutiss Organoids L’Oréal Lisa Anderson Paragonix Technologies As suggested by Simon during the episode, you can learn more about biofabrication and tissue engineering on the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute website. You can get in touch with Simon via LinkedIn, and follow Cellbricks Therapeutics’ activities on their website, and LinkedIn. ✉️ If you want to give me feedback on the episode or suggest potential guests, contact me over LinkedIn or via email! ⭐️ And if you liked the episode, please share it, subscribe to the podcast, and leave a 5-star review on streaming platforms! 🙏 You can also support my work by doing a PayPal donation @ImpulsePodcast! 👍 Lastly, don’t forget to follow our activities on LinkedIn and our website!

To discover the whole episode, type "#53 - Engineering living tissue therapeutics - Simon Mackenzie - Cellbricks Therapeutics" on your preferred streaming platform.

Is there a simple way to know your hydration level? Not really. It's a surprising reality, considering our bodies are composed of roughly 60% water. When you consider that half of all people drink less than recommended and that chronic dehydration leads to an increased risk of chronic diseases and premature mortality, it becomes clear that monitoring this parameter daily is a public health imperative. The good news is that Mark Kendall and his team at WearOptimo have developed a technology that could be a game-changer. It's a wearable sensor, similar to a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) patch, capable of continuously and non-invasively measuring our body's water content at any given moment—a technological feat that relies on one of our largest water reservoirs: our skin. In this episode, we unpack how Mark and his team developed this sensor and explore the science behind how it works. We discuss what this could change for our understanding of human physiology, not only in extreme situations for elite athletes but, more importantly, in our everyday lives. Join us for an episode on the fundamental role of water in the body, the skin's critical role in its regulation, and the window of opportunity this organ opens for sensing other essential molecules right from its surface! Timeline: 00:00:00 - Mark’s journey as a biomedical engineer creating technologies for drug delivery and sensing through the skin 00:05:10 - The dehydration pandemic and the opportunity around hydration sensing 00:12:34 - Building a skin patch to monitor hydration levels with clinical-grade precision and no needle 00:22:47 - Relevant use cases for the WearOptimo sensor and complementarity with other wearables 00:25:40 - Going toward one wearable platform to measure multiple biomarkers at once 00:27:20 - The next steps for WearOptimo and scaling up its commercialisation efforts 00:29:55 - Working alongside ex-Formula 1 driver Mark Webber to understand hydration in elite athletes 00:34:10 - Mark’s tips and tricks to stay hydrated What we also talked about with Mark: Gates Foundation Nanopatch Continuous Glucose Monitoring Whole-body impedance Formula 1 Mark Webber Oscar Piastri Prof. Robert Langer Moderna We mentioned with Mark some of the past episodes of the series: #39 - Crafting the best connected health experience - Matthieu Menanteau - Withings #23 - Disrupting the smart wearables industry - Leo Grünstein - Spiden #11 - Turning the lab into a wearable platform - Esmeralda Megally - Xsensio As suggested by Mark during the episode, you can learn more about the long-term health outcomes associated with hydration status by reading the paper from Natalia I. Dmitrieva et al. published in Nature Reviews Nephrology in 2024. You can also watch Mark’s TED Talk about the Nanopatch, the needle-free immunisation technology that he pioneered, on YouTube. You can get in touch with Mark via LinkedIn, and follow WearOptimo’s activities on their website, LinkedIn, and X. ✉️ If you want to give me feedback on the episode or suggest potential guests, contact me over LinkedIn or via email! ⭐️ And if you liked the episode, please share it, subscribe to the podcast, and leave a 5-star review on streaming platforms! 🙏 You can also support my work by doing a PayPal donation @ImpulsePodcast! 👍 Lastly, don’t forget to follow our activities on LinkedIn and our website!

To discover the whole episode, type "#52 - Sensing hydration through the skin - Mark Kendall - WearOptimo" on your preferred streaming platform.