Computer Vision News - December 2021

39 Positrigo ETH Zurich , where Jannis graduated, University of Zurich , and University Hospital of Zurich , with advisors including Alfred Buck , Günther Dissertori , Werner Lustermann , and Bruno Weber , working alongside Jannis and co-founder Max Ahnen . “ Wewere in the right place at the right time with the right people, ” Jannis discloses. “ We were at ETH Zurich when they felt they needed this device, and we had the expertise to build it. It’s come from particle physics and not many people can do that. Also, we’re in Zurich close to the developers and the hospital that did studies on medication against Alzheimer’s. It all came together perfectly! ” Positrigo’s vision is that doctors will screen for Alzheimer’s in the same way they do now for colon cancer . Once people hit a certain age, they will be able to go to their early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, but at the moment it’s very expensive and not widely available, ” Jannis tells us. “ Our vision is to make this possible for everyone and bring it to more hospitals, more doctors, and more patients than ever before. ” The 14-strong team at Positrigo have developed a new PET system called NeuroLF . It fits the brief of being more compact and significantly more affordable than traditional scanners. The diagnosis itself only takes 10 to 15minutes and there is no need for any extravagant hospital setup. All the device needs is a small room to operate in. This has been a group effort between Co-founder and partner Max Ahnen on the very first prototype