Today marks the official end of the WINTHER precursor project, INNODERM. For 5+ years (we got 6 extra months together due to the pandemic) our excellent consortium composed of iThera Medical GmbH, Sonaxis SA, Rayfos Ltd, Humanitas University, and led by the Technical University of Munich, has worked tirelessly to improve dermatology healthcare by creating a novel, non-invasive label-free optoacoustic diagnostic device. The prototype Raster-Scanning Optoacoustic Mesoscopy (RSOM) device was shown to be incredibly effective at diagnosing and monitoring skin and cardio-metabolic diseases and is being used in clinics as a research tool around the world.
From the EU H2020 Photonics 21 funded project, we have produced 21 peer-reviewed papers, participated in over 100 dissemination and communication related activities (e.g., conferences, workshops, webinars, interviews, summer schools), filed three new patents, won many awards, and are in the process of commercializing two new devices for the clinical market. Overall, a success!
In 2019, based on new insights about the capabilities of the RSOM, we decided to apply for a follow-up project through EU Horizon 2020. That proposal was granted and in January 2020 we started the WINTHER project. We are happy that the end of INNODERM doesn’t mean the end of our pursuits to improve individualized healthcare and we look forward to continuing bringing more innovative optoacoustic devices to the market in the future. Keep following on our progress here and on our Twitter page: https://twitter.com/winther2020