European innovators under 35: MIT Technology Review selects SensArs’ founder Francesco Petrini

The ‘Innovators Under 35’ is an annual list curated by the MIT Technology Review to recognize outstanding innovators who are younger than 35 whose technical work promises to shape the coming decades. Among this year’s 35 winners from Europe is Francesco Petrini, Co-founder and CEO of SensArs Neuroprosthetics.

The Lausanne based startup is addressing some of the pressing challenges that leg amputees deal with on a daily basis including the inability to feel their surroundings. Current prostheses that do not provide any sensory feedback about touch with the ground or motion, which increases the risk of falls and loss of confidence in the prosthesis. Moreover, users tend to overuse the healthy leg resulting in fatigue, and they report phantom limb pain from the missing leg.

To tackle these issues, SensArs developed SENSY, a medical device designed to restore the sense of touch to amputees. The Prosthetics is composed of intraneural electrodes and neurostimulator, an external controller and a sensorized insole that is located in the area of the sole and the knee of the prosthetic. Through the sensors, SENSY collects data on the environment and translates it into electrical impulses. The patient then receives stimulation through electrodes implanted in the tibial nerve of his amputated area, at thigh level.

The first prototype of SENSY was tested in 2013 on people with amputated hands and was finally adapted for people with leg amputations, as they represent 80% of amputees.  The insole is adaptable to the prostheses currently available in the market.

As part of its plan, Petrini aims to raise funds to develop a new prototype of SENSY, test it in clinical trials, and obtain the necessary certifications so that it can be marketed. The founder has already identified two hospitals to carry out the trials: Gemelli University in Rome, Italy and Charité in Berlin, Germany. 

(Press release/ran)