About Us
We are leaders, achievers and innovators.
We believe in pushing the boundaries of innovation while maintaining the highest ethical and quality standards.
We partner with world-class researchers, health care professionals and organizations to build the brain care system that we all want to see.
Neuraura’s platform combines neuro-sensing, data visualization and machine learning to transform the standard of brain care. We create products that advance drug development, support diagnostics and enable personalized neuromodulation.
Our Mission
Neuraura’s mission is to unlock safe and effective treatments for brain-related disorders.
Neurological, psychiatric and sensory conditions are a global epidemic with a burden on society that is greater than cancer and cardiac conditions combined. Current treatment options are severely limited due to a legacy of stigma, our poor understanding of the brain and practical challenges in targeting drugs, such as the blood-brain barrier.
For some conditions, such as epilepsy, surgical intervention is proven to be one the medically proven best option available today. Neuromodulation, or the electrical stimulation of specific neurons, has been shown to be effective at the research level to treat a broad range of conditions including Alzheimer’s, addiction, depression and chronic pain.
Neuraura will unlock these treatment options by using its proprietary sensing technology to understand the electrical workings of the brain for personalized and adaptive brain care.
HISTORY
Neuraura Biotech Inc., (“Neuraura”) was formed as a spin-out from the University of Calgary as part of a collaboration between the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (Cumming School of Medicine), a pioneering institution in the field of brain-chip interface, and the Schulich School of Engineering.
Our technical co-founders, Pierre and Colin, have collaborated since 2012 to develop novel microsensors as part of Pierre’s PhD. They joined the inaugural cohort of the Creative Destructive Lab Rockies in 2017, where they started working closely with Claire, and incorporated Neuraura in December that year.
Leadership & Founding Team
Colin Dalton
Co-founder & CTO
Colin keeps our team grounded and out of trouble, being able to predict potential future issues. He has more than 20 years’ experience conducting collaborative research to advance healthcare solutions and is the Director of the Microsystems Hub, a multi user micro-fabrication research facility and an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary. Colin holds a PhD in Electronic Engineering, specializing in Biotechnology from Bangor University, UK, as well as MSc and BEng degrees from the same institution.
Pierre Wijdenes
Co-founder & CEO
Pierre’s superpower is his unshakeable vision and optimism. He previously founded a B2C healthcare community platform, consulted to the medical device industry and worked in collaboration with the National Research Council of Canada. Pierre holds a Doctorate in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Calgary and a MEng/MSc in Human Factors, Cognitive Engineering and User Interaction from the École Nationale Supérieure de Cognitique (“ENSC”) in Bordeaux – France.
Claire Dixon
Co-founder & COO
Claire has a unique ability to distill complex and disparate information into clear, concise insights. She is also our team whip, formidable despite her diminutive stature. She brings more than 20 years’ of strategy and operations experience to our team, including her formative years with L.E.K. Consulting and a number of senior operational roles at the Haskayne School of Business. Claire holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a MEng/MA in Mechanical Engineering from Cambridge University, UK.
World Class Advisors
Brian Meshkin
Canadian Director
Brian is Managing Partner with Profound Ventures and Entrepreneur in Residence at the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics (“SBMT”). He is an award-winning health technology executive and pioneer in big data and precision medicine. He founded Proove Biosciences in 2009 which became one of the fastest growing technology companies in North America - ranked in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and the Inc. 500. He previously funded and piloted new digital health technologies at Eli Lilly, managed digital health for Johnson & Johnson’s largest product and helped direct marketing efforts for Prometheus Laboratories to pioneer personalized gastroenterology.
Topaz Conway
Australian Director
Topaz is a veteran of the innovation ecosystem with experience spanning MedTech, Bioengineering, IT and e- commerce. In addition to being Co-Founder/Chair of Springboard Enterprises (“SBE”) Australia (an accelerator for women-led companies delivering the world class Springboard Accelerator) 2012-2018, Topaz is a Director of Cicada Innovations (New South Wales’ Deep-Tech incubator), Omni Tanker Pty Ltd, University of Technology (Sydney) Foundation and is Prof of Practice at UNSW School of Business Management. She served on the Advisory Council to the Minister of Research & Innovation in Alberta, Canada (“ARIAC”) until 2019, and was a Commercialisation Advisor to Australian government Accelerating Commercialisation Grant Program. She is past Chair of CleanSpace Technologies (ASX: CSX) a respiratory protection device company, and currently is an active investor, advisor and mentor.
Dr. Timothy Deer
Partnerships Advisor
Tim is internationally renowned in the field of neuromodulation as past President of the International Neuromodulation Society and President and CEO of the Spine and Nerve Centre in Charleston, West Virginia. He is also a Clinical Professor of Anesthesiology at West Virginia University.
Eric Relkin
Consultant - Sales & Marketing
Eric is a cross-functional commercial executive with 17 years of sales, management, marketing and training experience. He previously led a top performing $25 million per year region of ten salespeople in medical device sales as Vice President, Marketing and Strategy for Neuromodulation at LivaNova (previously Cyberonics) and is currently leading the US sales efforts as Vice President of Sales for Micromed, a neurophysiology solution provider to neurologists. Eric supports Neuraura in engaging leading research groups, clinicians and pharma companies as potential customers for its research and clinical products.
Dr. Mark Cook
Clinical Advisor
Mark is an internationally renowned neurologist specializing in the treatment of epilepsy and is Director of Neurology at St. Vincent’s Hospital. He has led first-in-human studies of implantable systems for seizure prediction and intracranial drug delivery Director of the Graeme Clark Institute and the Sir John Eccles Chair of Medicine at the University of Melbourne and Director of the Department of Neurology at St. Vincent’s Hospital.
Dr. Paolo Federico
Clinical Advisor
Paolo is a Professor of Neurology at the University of Calgary and specialist in Epilepsy care. His work focuses on functional and structural imaging of epilepsy and advanced EEG analytical techniques, including the study of high frequency oscillations.
Dr. Walter Hader
Clinical Advisor
Walter is an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery at the University of Calgary and specialist in Epilepsy and Pediatric Neurosurgery at the Alberta Children’s Hospital. His research interests focus on the treatment of temporal lobe epilepsy and the visual consequence of different surgical techniques in retractable epilepsy.
The Team
Bonita Gunning
Quality Manager
Simon Wong
Hardware Technician
Kazim Haider
Hardware Technician
Stephen Cartwright
Software Consultant
Lisa Van de Panne
Hardware Intern
Chloe Deutscher
Business Development Associate
Lee Evans
Hardware Intern
Partners
