HeartFlow said on Wednesday it inked a collaborative research agreement deal with the Imperial College London for research in the areas of medical imaging and deep learning using the company’s FFRct technology.
Redwood City, Calif.-based HeartFlow’s FFRct technology works by taking the data from a standard CT scan and applying algorithms that result in a color-coded 3D “map” detailing the changes in flow across coronary lesions.
The collaborative project will be led by Dr. Ben Glocker and Daniel Rueckert, Heartflow said. As part of the project, a team from Heartflow will operate out of Imperial’s Biomedical Image Analysis group
“The collaboration with HeartFlow will not only open new and exciting research directions, but it also will pave the path for bringing our latest deep learning technology into clinical practice and thus will have real impact on the healthcare of thousands of patients. This collaboration provides us with the optimal infrastructure to go beyond publishing papers and turn our ideas into new clinical solutions,” Dr. Glocker said in a prepared statement.
“The HeartFlow collaboration is a new type of industrial collaboration and we see great mutual benefit from a truly embedded team of scientists that will work closely with our academic staff, postdocs and PhD students. This model provides us new ways of attracting the best talent and offering exciting research opportunities,” Rueckert said in a prepared release.
The project will initially focus on developing algorithms for extracting models of the coronaries from 4D computed tomography datasets, aligning images across modalities and improving the precision of image acquisition and reconstruction. HeartFlow said it will also fund additional research roles at the lab.
“We are delighted to collaborate with the team at Imperial, who are globally recognized leaders in applying deep learning techniques to medical imaging. I have no doubt that the combined expertise of the HeartFlow and Imperial teams will help accelerate turning cutting-edge science into groundbreaking products that can positively impact how patients with suspected heart disease are diagnosed and managed,” prez & CEO Dr. John Stevens said in a press release.
Last month, HeartFlow said it closed a $240 million Series E round of financing, with funds slated to support commercial expansion and studies of its HeartFlow FFRct analysis system.
