News

Hexoskin @ 2024 JP Morgan Conference

Hexoskin will be in San Francisco again this year during the 42nd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, the largest life sciences investment event in the world.

We'll take the opportunity to meet with our clients and partners who use the Hexoskin software platform and wearables to advance our knowledge of human physiology.

We'll also present our new Hexoskin OneView platform for research and our digital biomarker pipeline in cardiology, respiratory diseases, nervous system disorders, and rare diseases.

Contact us to book a meeting: contact@hexoskin.com

Hexoskin @ HITLAB Innovators Summit 2023

This November at the HITLAB Innovators Summit at Columbia University in NYC we officially launched our new Hexoskin OneView platform for clinical research! For a long time we knew there was a need for better software to support digital biomarker development and clinical research with medical wearables.

We understand the needs of research organizations and clinical sites when it comes to onboarding participants, monitoring compliance and data quality.

So we did something about it.

OneView is the best solution for doing clinical research with Hexoskin and Astroskin wearables. It allows you to:

• Manage cohorts and calendars
• Monitor data quality and compliance
• Use study templates, standardized questionnaires and data reports
• Easily clone studies to create new study arms
• Export all data to other systems like R and SAS for biostatistics

The platform also includes a mobile app for patient reported outcomes and participant tasks management.

On top of that, Hexoskin offers turnkey services for clinical trials: protocol planning and design, recruitment, study support, biostatistics and endpoints, etc.

OneView is already used today by a select group of research organizations and Pharma companies - who joined our beta program earlier this year - to run clinical trials with a decentralized or virtual component. Their feedback has been amazing and has helped us improve OneView to make it an essential research tool.

Please visit our website: hexoskin.com/oneview to learn more about digital tools for clinical research.

The recording from the event is available below:

UNOOSA Webinar on Nov 9th 2023

The UNOOSA (United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs) has invited Hexoskin's CEO Pierre-Alexandre Fournier to speak about medical research conducted aboard the International Space Station with Astroskin wearable sensors.

The webinar entitled "From Space to Earth: Innovations enabling accessibility on Earth" was live on Thursday November 9th, 2023, you watch a recording of the event here.

There are less than 700 astronauts who have visited space from the time Yuri Gagarin reached orbit for the first time in 1961 to now in 2023. Most of these astronauts were selected to have none or few health conditions.

With space more accessible than ever, we expect thousands of people to visit space in the coming decades on suborbital and orbital flights. Many of these new astronauts who will visit space to work or as travellers will have health conditions or disabilities.

Health research conducted in the space station today  with Astroskin health sensors helps better understand the risks and mitigation strategies to make space more accessible. It also helps better understand the effects of aging on human performance: microgravity has effects on the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems analog to accelerated aging.

About the UNOOSA

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) works to promote international cooperation in the peaceful use and exploration of space, and in the utilisation of space science and technology for sustainable economic and social development. The Office assists any United Nations Member States to establish legal and regulatory frameworks to govern space activities and strengthens the capacity of developing countries to use space science technology and applications for development by helping to integrate space capabilities into national development programmes.

Astroskin's first suborbital flight with Kellie Gerardi on Virgin Galactic's 05 mission

Kellie Gerardie, a U.S. Payload Specialist and Bioastronautics Researcher for the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS), will become this week the first astronaut to use the Astroskin wearable vital signs monitoring system on a suborbital flight.

This is an important milestone for the Astroskin research platform, because the wearable sensors will be worn for the first time during a whole mission: launch, adaptation to microgravity, and landing.

This will allow the IIAS to collect physiological data during critical stages of the spaceflight: from rest to 3g acceleration and then microgravity, an astronaut's body experience stress and needs to adapt to the constant changing environment while the Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity spaceship leaves New Mexico for space and comes back. These changes can be measured using Astroskin's wearable sensors.

The Galactic 05 research mission spaceflight is scheduled to launch on November 2nd 2023 from Spaceport America, 32 km southeast of the city of Trust or Consequences, New Mexico.

The Bio-Monitor Astroskin system is used aboard the International Space Station since 2019 to conduct medical research on the effects of spaceflight on human physiology. Four research projects are currently ongoing, mostly focusing on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Its deployment in space has been funded by the Canadian Space Agency and the system has been used by astronauts from CSA, NASA, ESA, JAXA, and the UAE Space Agency.

Over the years, Astroskin has become a standard for complex, continuous vital signs monitoring for space research. The system was awarded the 2022 International Space Station Research Innovation Award for Human Health in Space by the American Astronautical Society.

Kellie Gerardie has been training with the Astroskin to collect baseline data for over a year. The use of Astroskin before, during, and after the flight will be supported the IIAS payload integration team: Yvette Gonzalez, Dr Shawna Pandya, and Dr Aaron Persad.

Read more about Astroskin wearable sensors: https://hexoskin.com/astroskin

Read more about the Galactic 05 mission space research program here.

Hexoskin & Astroskin Supporting State-Of-The-Art Human Performance Research

Addressing Unexplored Frontiers in Human Performance

Since the late 19th century, modern research on human performance has led to the study of cognitive abilities, physiological, and psychological factors that influence human capabilities. 

Although significant pioneering efforts have been made in the 20th century and in recent decades, there are still several unexplored research areas that could potentially enhance the resilience and health of military personnel and warfighters. Key areas include understanding the neuroscience of performance, human-technology interaction, performance in extreme environments, individual variability, collaborative performance, and ethical approaches to performance enhancement. Additionally, long-term skill development, cross-disciplinary research, non-traditional performance metrics, and performance in virtual environments hold untapped potential for transformative discoveries.

Top institutions such as the U.S. Navy Naval Research Center (USA), the Canadian Armed Forces, and the French Armed Forces Biomedical Research Institute (IRBA) (France), are at the forefront of state-of-the-art studies pertaining to human performance, readiness, stress, fatigue, and fitness. Leveraging the Hexoskin and Astroskin smart garments with embedded health sensors and an end-to-end platform providing continuous health status and high-resolution data, these organizations are paving the way for deeper understanding and advancements in the fields of human physiology and performance optimization. From assessing the endurance, physical fitness and resilience of warfighters to unraveling the mysteries of physiological responses, their efforts promise to reshape our comprehension of human potential, enhancing readiness, and fostering safer and more effective operational environments.

Enhancing Warfighters' Health & Performance

One of the organizations leading the charge includes the team at the U.S. Naval Health Research Center located in San Diego that aims to improve the health, well-being, and performance of the United States military personnel and veterans. Their research revolves around monitoring and enhancing Warfighter performance and operational readiness through the integration of physical and cognitive monitoring.

The team at Naval Health Research Center uses cutting-edge wearable biometric sensors, including Hexoskin and Astroskin devices, to measure vital signs such as ECG, heart rate, oxygen saturation, and breathing rate in real-time and other important stress, fatigue, cognitive, and performance markers with heart rate variability (HRV). In their facilities that include simulation labs, driving simulators, and virtual reality (VR) environments, they are validating the accuracy and effectiveness of Hexoskin and Astroskin by comparing them with gold standard measurements. Their goal is to integrate solutions like Hexoskin & Astroskin with custom virtual reality programs and other research tools for comprehensive data analysis. The data collected will help them perform stress levels assessments, fatigue, and overall performance, leading to personalized training plans and strategies for stress and fatigue management for deployment in real-world scenarios.

Source: Astroskin Webinar: Amy Silder, PhD. Biomonitoring in Warfighter Performance

The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) studied the performance and reliability of the Hexoskin garment. A Canadian Forces Health Services Group reserve unit used the Hexoskin garment during a two-day military field exercise that included reconnaissance, reacting to enemy fire, and providing tactical field care to casualties.

 

The final exercise was conducted over two nights and three days in moderate weather conditions in British Columbia, Canada.

 

Hexoskin was found to be comfortable during various environmental and weather conditions while continuously collecting cardiac, respiratory, activity, and sleep data.

 

Another innovative project with Astroskin is led by the Agence Innovation Defense under the Ministère des Armées in France. The SPEEN project aims to monitor pilots during flights, measuring their real-time health parameters including blood oxygen levels with the Astroskin SpO2 pulse oximeter. The project aims to alert pilots of unnoticed situations and predict critical conditions using artificial intelligence. Conceived by Ship-of-the-line lieutenant Christophe and supported by Frigate Captain Gautier, both test pilots at the Centre d'expérimentations pratiques et de réception de l'aéronautique navale (CEPA). The research involving Astroskin has been conducted in partnership with the Institut de Recherche Biomédicale des Armées (IRBA), the Département de Médecine Aéronautique Opérationnelle (DMAO), Hexoskin and Knopé, Hexoskin's Distributor in France. 

Source: Agence Innovation Défense

Thanks to their efforts and for enhancing flight safety by understanding and predicting unexplained physiological events during flight through individual data and AI, the team received the Prix de l'audace award given by the Ministère des Armées in 2022.

Reshaping Resiliency & Health Outcomes Beyond the Laboratory & Battlefield

By tracing new paths in human performance research and innovative technology applications, these efforts can support not only the resilience and well-being of active military personnel and warfighters but also provide better support and care to veterans, and beyond.

These groundbreaking studies and projects can also extend to the lives of veterans who transition to civilian life. As we refine our understanding of stress, fatigue, and resilience, the impact of the work accomplished can influence how we approach healthcare and well-being services to improve the quality of life of active personnel and our retired service members.

As we navigate unexplored frontiers, the journey extends beyond the laboratory and battlefield, shaping a future where the dedication of our armed forces is met with a reciprocal commitment to their lifelong health and success.

Contact Hexoskin today to discuss how the Hexoskin & Astroskin end-to-end platform can support your projects.

Hexoskin at Biosensors for Medical Wearables 2023 in Boston: Non-adhesive, flexible wearable sensors for pulmonary medical applications

Hexoskin's co-founder and CEO Pierre-Alexandre Fournier has been invited this year again to talk about wearable vital signs monitoring and digital biomarker development at the Biosensors for Medical Wearables Conference in Boston, this October 23rd.

Vital signs sensors traditionally used for cardiac and respiratory monitoring involve adhesives or tape to keep sensors in place on the skin. Experience has shown there's a tradeoff between monitoring duration (1 to 14 days), and adhesive agressiveness, which can lead to skin rashes or wounds.

There's now a safer and more convenient way for patients to record long-term vital signs data needed for diagnosis or digital biomarker development: smart textiles. Hexoskin users have successfully demonstrated the advantages of using a form factor that patients like. Researchers have documented it in over 200 scientific papers.

Moreover, Hexoskin biometric shirts' respiratory sensors allow continuous pulmonary measurements previously hard or impossible to collect in real-world situations, outside laboratory environments. These sensors open a new era of research on diseases that have an impact on the pulmonary function.

In his talk, Fournier will describe medical applications of smart textile sensors for patients with respiratory diseases, as well as opportunities in research in cardiology, mental health and rare diseases. He will also share unique insights into Hexoskin's experience in space medicine research aboard the International Space Station.

Please reach out for more information: contact@hexoskin.com

Now 200+ Scientific Publications with Hexoskin!

Research organizations publish more than ever with Hexoskin data! Hexoskin Scientific Community has surpassed a significant milestone by publishing over 200 scientific publications.

Hexoskin is the most popular smart clothing platform for health monitoring in the world, and its users have published more papers with Hexoskin and Astroskin devices than with all the competition combined.

The long list of papers covers cardiovascular health, respiratory monitoring, stress, sleep, space medicine, and many more subjects.

We've always believed transparency and collaboration are fundamental values necessary to the progress of science. This is why from the beginning we provided to our users tools to conduct investigations, collect data from research participants, and an open API to access every data point collected and automate data processing tasks. From these tools has emerged a dynamic research community pushing our understanding of human physiology.

Since 2012, Hexoskin has supported thousands of clients with end-to-end and flexible solutions to fit all their needs and bring new capabilities for leading research and projects. Hexoskin now reaches more than 50 countries and is used by top universities, research institutes, hospitals, government, defense, police, and first responders organizations in addition to companies in many industries.

Our Hexoskin + Research program aims to support student and academic researchers every step of the way. Hexoskin also supports professionals and innovative companies with our program Hexoskin + Professionals.

Contact our team to discuss how Hexoskin can support you with tailored solutions to help you find answers to your next big questions. 

Universities and Research Labs Harnessing Hexoskin and Astroskin for Their Cutting-Edge Projects

In the rapidly evolving landscape of health research, the integration of cutting-edge technologies has become paramount for advancing scientific exploration and discovery. The pursuit of innovative methodologies and tools to enhance the precision and scope of health research is a shared concern for academic institutions and researchers worldwide.

Each new research or discovery presents a set of constraints and challenges that researchers and students must go through to secure funding, navigate Institutional Review Boards and Ethics committees and recruit and retain participants, while balancing schedules and pressure to publish. Additionally, obtaining access to specialized equipment and generating high-quality data, sometimes across multiple facilities, can incur significant costs and time commitments. The need for accessible solutions that support researchers and students in their data collection, analysis and interpretation has emerged as a pivotal requirement for universities aspiring to position their institution as top research and innovation hubs on the national and global stage.

This is why leading research institutions including McGill University, Alma College, Salzburg University, TELUQ, The University of Arizona, and the University of Alberta, to name a few, have embraced cutting-edge technologies like Hexoskin and Astroskin as integral components of their laboratory equipment & research methodologies to conduct their projects thanks to their relative lower costs for collecting multiparameters high-resolution data and advanced study management and analytics tools.

An illustrative example of an academic institution's commitment to supporting its research community is the University of Arizona's SensorLab. Funded by the University of Arizona Strategic Plan, SensorLab is a Health Sciences initiative bringing students, faculty, industry and community partners together to pioneer human-centered sensor systems. The laboratory connects researchers across disciplines, within health sciences and beyond, to develop a range of health-oriented technologies and digital solutions, including AI, VR, and mobile apps. SensorLab is outfitted with gold-standard and state-of-the-art sensor systems like Hexoskin, environmental monitoring, 360 video and audio recording, XR, coupled with analytical tools and multimodal feedback capabilities to push forward the next generation of sensor-based investigation and discovery. 

For students, SensorLab provides two key services: lending equipment and sensors for shared use, as well as dedicated research spaces configured for sensor-based projects. Students can engage at varying levels, from borrowing hardware to actively contributing to the design and development of sensor-driven research.

Over the years, Hexoskin has made it easier for research clients and developers to leverage fully the Hexoskin and Astroskin platform and collaborate on premises and remotely. Research groups such as the team behind the WE SENSE study at McGill University can answer research questions and hypothesis by leveraging the additional sensors provided with Astroskin or Hexoskin to determine the health parameters and metrics that are most relevant to answer their research questions and build their models. Given that Hexoskin and Astroskin offer processed and raw data in multiple formats suitable for advanced analysis, researchers are leveraging the online dashboard and API to extract the data to work on their models using machine learning and artificial intelligence methods.

Other research groups like at Salzburg University are going further in their experimentations by leveraging the SDK tools available to developers for Hexoskin and Astroskin to access the raw data in real time enabling them to build ground breaking apps while also leveraging the data collected in their research to publish scientific papers.

With a presence in over 50 countries and growing, Hexoskin & Astroskin have been adopted and shared across organizations and labs to conduct and deliver projects.

Contact Hexoskin today to discuss how the Hexoskin & Astroskin end-to-end platform can support your projects.

Interview with HITLAB on Medical Data Infrastructure, Automation and AI

In this video interview with HITLAB at Columbia University in New York, Hexoskin's CEO Pierre-Alexandre Fournier discusses how fundamental building medical data infrastructure was to enable automation and AI - tools to make healthcare delivery more efficient and more accessible.

The lack of electronic medical records and data standards has slowed progress in digital health and AI in the 2000s and 2010s. Today the infrastructure is ready to make data collected by patients actionable and valuable.

This new IT environment (EHR/EMRs, broadband, FIRH, HL7, smart phones, and wearables) accelerates automation and AI development, digital biomarker discovery, personalized medicine and new health prevention services.

Hexoskin is building on this infrastructure to offer high-resolution vital signs monitoring with Hexoskin and Astroskin wearables, apps to collect patient reported outcomes and events, could storage, data automation and cohort management.

Please reach out to see how Hexoskin can help.

Conversation with Dr. Martin Gershon of Endeavor Venture Fund

Dr. Martin Gershon, Managing Partner/CIO of Endeavor Venture Fund and physician entrepreneur, had a 30 minutes conversation today with Hexoskin's CEO Pierre-Alexandre Fournier.

They talked about the journey of Hexoskin and the new landscape for medical wearables, connected sensors, digital biomarkers, the future of diagnostics and clinical research. They also emphasized the importance of collaboration and community to build innovative solutions that benefit patients, caregivers, and providers.

The live webinar recording is available below.