People use the word revolution too often, especially in digital surroundings. (Mis)saying that a digital product is revolutionary costs nothing, sounds pompous, and resonates well with the online audience.
But what about crafting, polishing, and carving a context that would host this word in its full power?
BrightMarbles Group has been an active participant in several world-changing projects, welding technology and healthcare into a seamless service.
Among various software development projects where our engineers have lent their expertise and commitment, Carna Health, Cellink, and Concorde Health are already revolutionizing (now, this is the right context) the global healthcare ecosystem.
This is a story about the genesis of the three projects above, with special insights into the specifics that our engineers have instilled into these solutions.
Join us as we delve into how BrightMarbles is carving out a new path in health-tech, project by project, innovation by innovation.
Cellink – Cutting-Edge 3D Bioprinting
Bioprinting isn’t a funky field. It’s complex and heavily soaked in science. Hence, most of the concepts and activities within this industry are completely clear only to niche experts.
What makes bioprinting so special is the fact that it directly saves lives. Since BrightMarbles Group holds the communal impact a vital part of the tech projects we accept, our collaboration with Cellink Company ticked all the boxes we advocate in our values manifesto.
On this project, our team was responsible for developing the software that controls a 3D tissue printer. More accurately, it was an augmented team that built a desktop application in which bio engineers could enter the relevant parameters to print the wanted tissue and cells within it.
The parameters entered in the code infrastructure are applied in real time, on a tangible product. From that point of view, our engineers faced the challenge of perfectly tweaking every single feature, so that no raw material is wasted during the tissue-printing procedure.
With products like this one, it’s crucial that what happens in reality is what you’ve programmed in the background. It took some back and forth to adjust all the elements, but the designated team managed to do it.
We also had the machine – the 3D printer – on the spot, so we were able to see it and understand how it actually works. Software development hits another dimension when you can see what practical functionalities your development efforts will enable.
From the strict programming point of view, we used the latest features of C++ and QT, as this was the most adequate option for the product in question. The core tasks were carried out in accordance with the general Agile and Scrum principles, through Sprints and incremental organizational units, all by the book.
How Does Cellink Save Lives?
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden, Cellink has become a trailblazing company in the biotechnology industry, with special expertise in bioprinting technologies.
The three main fields that Cellink’s bioprinting innovations are advancing are regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, and pharmacological research.
This ability to create a live tissue is a revolutionary achievement that propels the combat against severe diseases to a whole different level.
For example, the company’s flagship product, the BIO X6 bioprinter, embodies their unique tech stack by providing scientists with the capability to create intricate cancer tumor models.
Hence, the relevant drug testing and toxicology studies can be conducted with greater efficacy and precision, contributing immensely to the development of ground-breaking therapy for people suffering from terminal and other heavy illnesses.
One of the Cellink team’s major goals is to produce fully functional organs for transplantation. It could be a life-saving solution for millions of people waiting for organ donors as we speak in a cruel race against time.
The fact that it’s become the first EIC-funded unicorn, and that its founder Erik Gatenholm has been inducted in the Forbes 30 Under 30 List all speak in favor of the company’s growth potential and noble role in healthtech.
Concorde App – Workforce on the Move
The workforce healthcare deserves our special attention. Truth be told, companies now care more about their employees’ wellbeing than several decades ago. Occupational safety and health (OSH) has become a multidiscipline field that studies and advances people’s physical safety and health at work.
We can tell from our own experience that IT workers are in many aspects more exposed to health risks than workers in some other industries. Long hours at desks, irregular body positions, eye strain, and a lack of physical activity may lead to various disorders.
That’s why we accepted a project that helps our fellow developers – and other workers across the universe – stay in shape and keep healthy. The Concorde Health app is your personal companion that guides you to a healthier and more dynamic lifestyle.
Targeted mainly at office workers, to prevent diseases and boost physical shape, Concorde Health comes with dozens of exercises.
When a user opens the app, they see a form that they populate with the requested information – age, height, weight, nutrition, daily habits, etc. – so the app can generate the right exercises for their current physical condition. Also, a growing path is built, so that the user in question sees some progress and starts feeling better soon.
When a Doctor Ideates a Mobile App
The story behind this app might be an interesting insight for potential doctors who are still in two minds over stepping into the world of entrepreneurship. The founder and CEO of the Concorde Health app is Jeffrey Vogel – a Harvard graduate and a renowned physiatrist. At one point, he realized that all the treatments and exercises he does with his patients should get wider coverage. That’s how he came up with the idea of a mobile app, recorded exercises, and designated doctors. The end goal is to offer a market-ready app to companies that want to improve their workers’ physical and mental condition.
A team of BrightMarbles developers has built this app from scratch. The client had the proof of concept (POC) done but we took a different approach, which turned out to be a better solution for the client.
The sole development process was pretty straightforward: the app design was done in Figma, we used Flutter for the mobile app and React for its Web counterpart. The backend was handled with .NET.
Another innovative feature regarding the development of this app is that we’ve built it as a serverless endpoint solution, making it easier to intervene to add/remove new features; frontend, backend, and database are all serverless, which makes Concorde Health an eco-friendly solution (lower carbon footprint due to serverless infrastructure).
The Concorde App comes with all the features you’d expect from a wellbeing mobile app: push notifications, SMS alerts, integrated chat, email notifications – the full nine yards (or whatever distance the user may want to run).
As for the organizational aspect, the team worked by the Agile book (we predominantly rely on the Agile methodology in our projects) and – more precisely – an adapted version of Scrum.
One of the main reasons that Dr. Vogel has decided to work with us, besides our healttech expertise, is our ability to provide adaptability and scalability in software development. With our domain and tech knowledge, we can smoothly upscale/downscale the team. This elasticity in terms of the number of developers working on a project is something that not many companies can offer. We’ve crafted our specific, in-house toolbox and belonging methodology for such a client-friendly approach.
BM Insight: BrightMarbles has developed a specific business strategy that allows clients to pivot throughout their projects. By this, we don’t mean the Customer is always right cliché, but a comprehensive approach in which we take the liberty to pinpoint weak points in our clients’ product ideations (if we spot any). Nevertheless, we offer unique flexibility in terms of project organization, as well as product iteration and delivery. If you want to learn more about validating digital products before development begins, read our blog post Digital Product Idea Validation – Safe Lane to Successful Launch.
Carna Health – a Better Life for CKD Patients
Carna Health is a digital platform – and its accompanying application – meant for the early identification of chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Developed by our team of engineers and co-founded by our very own CEO Boris Berat and a trust of renowned medical experts led by Salvatore Viscomi, MD – a Harvard Medical School resident, a board member of the Make-A-Wish-Foundation, and much more – the umbrella goal of the Carna Health solution is to democratize access to basic healthcare, with a special accent on early CKD detection.
The recent stats have shown that 90% of people aren’t aware they suffer from CKD in the first place, and CKD is the 8th leading cause of death globally, making this illness the silent epidemic of our times.
As our CEO Boris Berat puts it:
“Around 8% of Americans suffer from CKD. Out of 350 million people living in the USA, it roughly amounts to almost 30 million people. And at least one third of them don’t even know they’ve developed this illness.”
Therefore, BrightMarbles and Carna Health are on a shared mission of fighting CKD and bringing early-detection solutions to millions of people across the globe.
We’d like to highlight that the Carna Health app and all the relevant software bits have been developed by the BrightMarbles engineering and design team from scratch.
For this project, we employed a cutting-edge tech stack to ensure scalability, performance, and security. The Carna Health app and all relevant software components have been developed utilizing AWS serverless architecture, .NET Core, React for web development, and Flutter for mobile applications. This robust combination of technologies allowed us to creaanyte a seamless, efficient, and user-friendly platform for CKD detection and management.
Now let’s go through the practical benefits that the Carna platform brings to people.
Imagine that you want to get your blood results as soon as possible but can’t or don’t want to go to the local health center.
Again, this is where Carna Health stages a revolution. The POCT concept (point of care testing) lets every person get their blood test reports without going to the hospital via the blood-testing devices developed in partnership with Nova Biomedical. Thanks to this company, the patients undergoing the Carna Health screening program – and soon all other patients – can perform their blood and urine tests through the CE-cleared devices, such as Nova Pro Max Creatinine/eGFR and Nova Biomedical Allegro.
When a patient wants to check their blood test, they insert a strip into the Nova Pro Max compact reader, make a small finger prick, place a few drops of blood onto the strip, and get their results in real time. After that, they can send the results to the available medical team and receive further interpretation.
When the patient sends the blood sample results to the Carna Health platform database, they’re stored on the preregistered patient’s profile. The physicians with granted access to the platform can interpret these results and offer advice and action plans to the patient in need.
Furthermore, based on the creatinine and eGFR results, and the urine albumin-creatinine ratio (UACR), nephrologists can diagnose if a patient is suffering from CKD, and determine the disease stage, if any. If CKD is detected at an earlier stage, patients are prescribed proper medicines.
Diagnosing CKD at later stages, unfortunately, requires dialysis or even kidney transplantation. Each of these are invasive, more expensive methods that take their toll on the patient.
This is exactly the major goal of the Carna Health project: enabling people to conduct self-testing and detect on time they’re exposed to CKD, to start receiving the right medical treatment.
BM Insight: Medicine will experience tectonic changes in the time ahead. Even in developed countries, which have low population growth or depopulation – and a higher living standard – the current medical system isn’t sustainable. In addition to the early detection of CKD, people can get other blood test results on the spot, such as measuring glucose parameters, electrolyte levels, capillary blood creatinine, blood pressure, and many other elements. All this patient data is completely secure and safe from unauthorized intrusion, thanks to the cutting-edge protection, implemented by our cybersecurity team. Carna platform adheres to HIPAA and GDPR standards, demonstrating the commitment to privacy and compliance.
Carna Health Screenings in Bermuda
All the engineering, design, and cybersecurity efforts BrightMarbles has committed to the Carna Health project are already used in practice. Carna Health and BrightMarbles Group have started the initial CKD screenings in Bermuda on January.
This pilot program was launched in cooperation with the Bermuda Diabetes Association, the Ministry of Health of Bermuda, and Kidney Care Bermuda & Bermuda Home Dialysis Services LTD. As a symbolic gesture of support to patients facing the challenges that kidney disorders bring, the first tested person was Kim Wilson, the Bermudian Minister of Health.
The main reason we decided to conduct population screening in Bermuda first is the prevalence of undetected CKD on this beautiful island. And the initial results were shocking: as reported by our CEO Boris Berat, 80 out of 200 tested people had to see a nephrologist as soon as possible, since their results showed they suffer from CKD.
Still, let’s make one thing clear: the initially tested people belonged to vulnerable groups, such as diabetics, because those people are the ones in urgent need. It is planned to carry out broader population screening, as well, but at later phases of the platform development. Nevertheless, those 80 people above didn’t feel any symptoms that could make them think their kidney didn’t function properly. This is only another proof that CKD is a silent killer that we must defeat.
Early Detection of CKD in Cameroon
Cameroon is a country with almost 28 million people who face various healthcare issues. The late detection of CKD is a particularly huge problem in this country.
This country is the next area where we’re launching population screenings to diagnose CKD on time and help those in need. A recent post shared by Ronald Gobina – one of the officials of the Cameroon Ministry of Health in charge of implementing the Carna Health screening program – explains how difficult the situation; many young people have bad eGFR, creatinine, and albumin results, and there’s no option to conduct massive screenings and give them the proper therapy. The Carna Health program starting in Cameroon promises to improve this situation.
Carna Health’s vision extends far beyond Bermuda and Cameroon. As we continue to make strides in these regions, we’re already planning expansions into other areas critically in need of accessible kidney health screenings and education. Our goal is to bring Carna Health’s innovative solutions to every corner of the globe, especially to underserved communities. By providing early detection and effective management tools universally, we aim to significantly reduce the global burden of CKD and improve health outcomes for millions.
Conclusion
Our completed projects and the ones that we’re keen on developing and making accessible to people in need shed a special light on BrightMarbles. By standing out with our healthtech and other purposeful projects, we stand up for people who need help.
And that’s only the beginning of the progress we can experience together. Because BrightMarbles Group is not merely a digital service provider; we are a community of engineers, strategists, and doers, united in a joint mission of revolutionizing healthcare through technology.
No matter if you’re a healthcare professional seeking to make a difference, a developer passionate about using your skills for a greater cause, or an investor looking to contribute to life-changing advancements in healthtech, there’s a place for you under our roof.
Join us on this sacred mission of turning the tide and creating a future where technology crosses paths with humanity.
Explore partnership opportunities, discover career paths, or simply follow our progress and insights into the ever-evolving world of healthtech. Let’s innovate, inspire, and impact lives together.
Connect with BrightMarbles Group today, and let’s build a healthier tomorrow, one innovation at a time: https://brightmarbles.io/contact/
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