The Health Innovation Roundup, sponsored by Health City, is written and published weekly by Taproot Edmonton to bring you the latest news and events in research, technology, companies and people changing health for the better in Edmonton. Sign up to get the full edition delivered directly to your inbox. Use the code HEALTHCITY & you’ll get 10% off the first year. Here are some highlights from this week’s Health Innovation Roundup: Local headlines Applied Pharmaceutical Innovation, a non-profit partnered with the University of Alberta Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, has attracted more than $25 million in research funding since it launched last fall. The non-profit has gotten 19 companies to invest in Edmonton by working with Mitacs, a federal grant organization, to bring in more than 100 internships over the next five years. API also brought back Isotechnika founder Robert Foster to Edmonton through a partnership with Hepion Pharmaceuticals. University of Alberta spin-off company True Angle Medical Technologies and its swallowing aid Mobili-T won the Vancouver AGE-WELL competition. “The prize money will support the next rounds of testing and studies, as well as the prototypes required for these. There will also be support and mentorship opportunities around commercialization as well as development,” said chief product officer Dr. Gabi Constantinescu. Ana (Automated Nanny Agent), a chatbot prototype being developed out of the University of Alberta’s Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute, could offer companionship to lonely seniors. Sandra Spencer is the new manager of the University of Alberta Health Accelerator. Global’s Su-Ling Goh recently profiled Edmonton chef Brad Smoliak. He is the longest surviving Mustard Procedure patient who recently received a Ventricular Assist Device at the Mazankowski Heart Institute while he waits for a heart transplant. Edmonton-based free online database DrugBank was mentioned in a Global Edmonton story to explain butyrylfentanyl, a substance found at the scene of a drug lab bust in Old Strathcona. The Government of Alberta is accepting expressions of interest until Aug. 13 for the Alberta Health Technology Trade Mission to MEDICA — World Forum for Medicine in Dusseldorf, Germany from Nov. 18-21. For more information, contact Svenja Chenikel, Senior Trade and Investment at 780-427-0472 or by email, svenja.chenikel@gov.ab.ca. MEDO.ai’s vice president of product Siyavash G. Nia was on the Ryan Jespersen Show to talk about the Edmonton-based company’s augmented reality ultrasound technology. Events Innovation In Health: A Conversation with Josh Blair: Sept. 10 at the Sutton Place Hotel BioAlberta’s 20th Annual AGM and Awards Gala: Sept. 24 at the Westin Hotel Alberta Blue Cross presents The Wellness Summit: Oct. 10 at the Renaissance Edmonton Airport Hotel Alberta Health Economic Study Group 2019: Nov. 4-5 at Peter Lougheed Hall, University of Alberta Moving Evidence to Action workshop: Nov. 26-28 at the University of Alberta You’ll have to travel for: Using Discrete Choice Experiments in Health Economics: Theoretical and Practical Issues: Sept. 8-11 in Banff at the Banff Centre Medical Fair Thailand: Sept. 11-13 in Bangkok, Thailand Med-tech mission to Vietnam: Sept. 16-17 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 20th Annual Alberta Biomedical Engineering Conference: Oct. 25-27 in Banff at the Banff Park Lodge 2019 W21C Innovation Academy: Oct. 30 in Calgary. Beyond Edmonton: Tech Crunch criticized Google’s DeepMind for a letter published in the journal Nature about its research on acute kidney injury that failed to properly explain how skewed the data was towards male patients. Have a suggestion for a future edition? Send it to hello@taprootedmonton.ca for consideration. Become a “Roundup Cultivator” and sponsor Taproot Edmonton to help them chronicle health innovation in Edmonton. Learn more