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Filed Under: HEALTH

THE COVID PIVOT – precinct innovators get creative

In the three months since Australia went into COVID-19 lockdown, Precinct innovators have proven themselves adaptive and resilient,  stepping up to the challenge and even exploiting new business opportunities.

We bring you just some examples of how they’ve demonstrated that adversity is the mother of invention.

Cleaning up new business

It was only back in February (but feels like years ago) that we brought you the success story of Virtual Mgr, a compliance-based software company that specialises in providing enterprise-level software to manage cleaning, food safety and other risk and compliance issues for large organisations.

Having already deployed their software into hospitals and aged care facilities in the United States, based from their global headquarters at Cohort and a US office in Rochester, New York, the pandemic has proven a major opportunity to pivot into simpler software that can be quickly introduced into smaller organisations and temporary hospital facilities, with added tracing abilities.

Utilising some of the smarts of their premium Health Clean product they quickly developed a Smart Clean app designed to track COVID-19 cleaning, along with a Smart Shield app for movement tracing that rely on QR codes to track and trace.

“It’s an instant and cost-effective solution, ” explains CEO Anil Patel.

We’re now in 28 hospitals representing 130 buildings in the US; the Queensland Government has had the confidence to utilise the app in their Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct buildings; and we are working with a major Australian sporting organisation to use our SmartShield suite of products at their events, so watch this space.

We’ve actually hired more people and launched in the UK, which we were planning to do pre-COVID, and so far it has gone well.”

Tele-health helping ease the pain

Online patient waiting rooms are making a big difference for a growing number of Gold Coast Health patients using virtual consultations to help manage their persistent pain.

From initial set-up of virtual services to aid remote patients back in 2014, the pandemic has seen the Gold Coast Health service expanded to deliver over 700 consultations to Gold Coasters living with pain since pandemic restrictions began.

Gold Coast Health Telehealth Program Manager Priyanka Mishra said Virtual Clinics were now providing 31 different services to patients with approximately 1000 consultations per month.

READ MORE

Researchers respond

Researchers across Griffith University and within Gold Coast Health have responded in many ways to the challenges of COVID-19 – none more so than Professor Michael Good AO (above), a member of the National COVID-19 Health and Research Advisory Committee and chair of the working group on convalescent plasma therapy, a passive immune therapy he believes deserves support for Australian research and clinical trials.

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COHORT continues to get creative

Creativity is in the DNA of the team at our COHORT co-working and innovation space – even now that they’re back with a COVID-safe plan to operate their co-working space, meeting rooms and future events, they continue to increase their digital footprint.

If you haven’t already tuned into COHORT TV, you can find an ever-increasing number of useful business resources. Live stream and podcasting services are also available for hire, with initial training provided.

Trying a little more kindness

Gold Coast Health Emergency Physician Dr Shahina Braganza has spread the love of the Pandemic Kindness Movement (PKM) to her colleagues.

Designed to support staff wellbeing, the PKM concept, originally developed by a Melbourne paediatrician, has been given the Gold Coast gratitude treatment, manifesting in an increase in random acts of kindness connecting the community to health workers and supporting closer connections between staff.

“Acts of kindness can give us the licence or the conduit to connect with each other, creating that sense of belonging and of community that become our safety net both practically and emotionally”, says Dr Braganza.

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Micro-credentials – just the ticket

As digital disruption becomes a reality, the ability to analyse vast quantities of data to extract relevant intelligence and assess threats to information security is fast becoming an essential skill for commercial and government sectors – responding to the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated this transformation.

In response, Griffith University has launched two new micro-credentials delivered online – Graduate Certificates in Cyber Security and Data Analytics and Cyber Security.

“Griffith University is proud to be offering these Graduate Certificates as part of the Federal Government’s package to support those who may have been made redundant due to the COVID-19 crisis,” Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor Professor Debra Henly says.

READ MORE 

A free ticket to tourism recovery

Meanwhile Griffith Institute for Tourism is offering a micro-credential course to help tourism businesses accelerate their recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, free of charge.

Created by GIFT Deputy Director Dr Sarah Gardiner (above), the self-paced Tourism – Ready for Recovery course is offered online in a four module format and builds on Dr Gardiner’s work helping Binna Burra Mountain Lodge recover after devastating bushfires last year.

READ MORE

For the latest COVID-19 updates from the Precinct, visit our dedicated page.

June 24, 2020 By Kathy Kruger

Filed Under: BUSINESS, HEALTH Tagged With: China, drug discovery, Grand Pharma, Institute for Glycomics

Landmark drug development deal with China for block-buster drug

Institute for Glycomics Director Professor Mark von Itzstein AO signs the agreement watched by Griffith University Vice Chancellor and President Professor Carolyn Evans

Griffith University’s Institute for Glycomics has partnered with Hong Kong listed China Grand Pharma’s newly established Australian company Grand Medical Ltd to develop a new drug for Human Parainfluenza Virus.

Human parainfluenza virus (hPIV) commonly causes upper and lower respiratory illnesses in infants, young children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems, including transplant patients, however anyone can get infected. Respiratory tract infections remain the deadliest communicable diseases worldwide, causing more than 3.2 million deaths in 2015 alone.

Currently there is no therapeutic available to specifically treat hPIV infection, with the potential for the Institute’s new drug to be a global block-buster.

Biggest deal of its kind for an Australian University

“This multimillion-dollar agreement represents Australia’s largest preclinical stage university engagement with Pharma to discover a novel antiviral drug and reflects our strong scientific team and IP portfolio”.

Dr Chris Davis, General Manager, Institute for Glycomics

Professors Mark von Itzstein and Carolyn Evans with Dr Linda Shi (Grand Medical Ltd) and Dr Michael Wang (China Grand Pharma)

The deal comprises significant upfront Research & Development and licence fees plus development and sales milestone fees with a tiered royalty on product sales.

China Grand Pharma has made major investments in several international companies including an Australian company Sirtex Medical Pty Ltd, German company Cardionovum GmbH and Canadian company Conavi Medical Inc.

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December 5, 2019 By Kathy Kruger

Filed Under: HEALTH, TECHNOLOGY

$2 million grant for revolutionary rehabilitation technology

Dr Dinesh Palipana (left) and Dr Claudio Pizzalato

BioSpine research towards a spinal injury cure

A world-leading program led by Griffith University researchers Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM, Queensland’s first quadraplegic medical doctor, and research fellow Dr Claudio Pizzolato has potential to completely transform the way spinal injury patients are rehabilitated, with application for other forms of rehab as well.

The promising research, which uses novel personalised medicine technology to bring together the most promising approaches to treating spinal cord injury in human history, has secured a $2 million funding injection from the Motor Accident Insurance Commmission (MAIC).

With very personal motivation to make a difference, Dr Palipana says he is grateful the stars are aligning on the Gold Coast to create a holistic treatment that will help patients all around the world.

“We are using thought control, electrical simulation, and drug therapy in an attempt to restore function in paralysis.”

Dr Claudio Pizzolato says the research was inspired by work underway in Europe and the USA and centred on their world-first personalised ‘digital twin’ that brings a brain-computer interface together with a human-machine interface to ‘close the loop’ broken by spinal cord injury.

“Our approach involves collaborating with spinal cord injury patients, clinicians, researchers, and engineers from the beginning in order to create a technology that works and is easy to use in clinics and hospitals,” he said.

“The MAIC funding is an incredible opportunity to create disruptive technologies that have the potential to change people’s lives.”

Griffith Vice Chancellor and President Professor Carolyn Evans welcomed the generous support from MAIC and says it would enable a transformative research opportunity.

“Rehabilitation for spinal cord injury has traditionally been quite slow and limited, and even with recent advances in robotic rehabilitation equipment has not been personalised to the patient or combined with thought control,” Professor Evans says.

“MAIC’s commitment to this world-leading research is in addition to previous financial support for promising research into a regenerative medicine treatment for the injured spinal cord through stem cell transplantation. Funding for both innovative initiatives will help cement the university’s reputation in spinal cord injury research.”

Dr Dinesh Palipana, Professor David Lloyd, Dr Claudio Pizzalatto and Perry Cross of the Perry Cross Spinal Injury Foundation

The Biospine project is a key Griffith University led initiative which is anticipated will help position the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct (GCHKP) as a global leader in spinal injury rehabilitation.

Research will be carried out at ADaPT 1.0 with ADaPT 2.0 to be built within the GCHKP by 2022.

Learn more

December 3, 2019 By Kathy Kruger

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Healthtech Summit celebrates a future of personalised medicine, AI and hope image

Healthtech Summit celebrates a future of personalised medicine, AI and hope

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From Research to Reality: GCHKP Talent Leads the LuminaX 2025 Cohort image

From Research to Reality: GCHKP Talent Leads the LuminaX 2025 Cohort

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A New Era of Health and Tech Innovation: HATRIC to Transform the Gold Coast

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Clinician Entrepreneurship Program wraps as a big success

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International Women's Day event 2025

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