UQ Prof Udantha Abeyratne and University team in major breakthrough
Source : Dæhæna – Monthly e-Newsletter November 2022 – Queensland Sri Lankans
Pfizer has acquired University of Queensland (UQ) startup ResApp Health Limited. ResApp, an ASXlisted company, has developed simple and inexpensive smartphone technology to accurately identify respiratory diseases based on cough analysis. Put it simply, it can diagnose COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses by listening to someone
cough.
The technology records a patient’s cough on a smartphone and analyses sounds and simple symptoms, such as a runny nose, to diagnose and measure the severity of a range of chronic and acute diseases, including asthma, pneumonia, bronchiolitis, croup and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The UQ technology was developed by (Sri Lankan) Associate Professor Udantha Abeyratne and his UQ team. Dr Abeyratne said that they worked closely with paediatricians and respiratory physicians to develop the diagnostic technology. “When I open up my lungs, open up the airway, that is what I call an ‘information super highway’, so I wondered whether it’s possible to use cough sounds, advanced signal processing and AI technology to pick out features,” he said. “From the very beginning, I had a big vision to develop scalable, cheap technologies to diagnose pulmonary diseases all over the world – not only in remote subSaharan Africa, but even in developed urban cities like New York and Brisbane.”
Dr Abeyratne said the smartphone technology was developed in consultation with medical practitioners. The technology has received global awards and recognition
• https://thuppahis.com/2022/10/02/udantha-abeyratne-queenslanduniversity-team-in-major-breakthrough/
• https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-28/qld-pfizer-buys-uq-startupresapp-health-covid/101478832
