Q1 2026 Team Update

Welcome to our Q1 2026 update. The past twelve months have been a defining period for the DEPTH AI Lab — two Nature portfolio papers published, a university spin-out closing an over one million pound seed round, active clinical trials recruiting participants, and new collaborations shaping the next generation of AI-enabled healthcare.

Publications

Our research output over the past year reflects the breadth and depth of the lab’s work across neurological disorders, mental health, clinical decision support, and health systems.

2026

• Chou, Cong, Brownson-Smith, Milne-Ives & Meinert — Assessment of mental and behavioural non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease using Artificial Intelligence: a systematic review. Communications Medicine (Nature), February 2026. A review of 27 studies finding that multimodal AI models outperform single-source approaches for detecting cognitive impairment and sleep disorders in Parkinson’s — but that depression and anxiety remain critically under-researched.
• Homer, Milne-Ives, Cornford et al. & Meinert — Designing a systemic intervention for student loneliness and social connectedness using a mixed-methods, co-creation approach. npj Mental Health Research (Nature), February 2026. This work reframes student loneliness as a systemic problem rather than an individual one, co-designing MAPP — a digital tool that visualises the university as a living social network.
• Ananthakrishnan, Sharma, Anderson & Meinert — Mobile apps for psychotic disorders: a systematic review protocol. 2026.

2025

• Riccalton, Threlfall, Ananthakrishnan et al. & Meinert — Modifications to the National Early Warning Score 2: a Scoping Review. BMC Medicine, March 2025. Identified three key modifications — incorporating age, nuanced FiO₂ weighting, and vital sign trend analysis — with the potential to significantly improve NEWS2 accuracy.
• Plummer, Cong, Milne-Ives, Threlfall, Le Roux & Meinert — Improving the Predictive Accuracy of the National Early Warning Score 2: Protocol for Algorithm Refinement. JMIR Research Protocols, July 2025. The NIHR BRC-funded protocol using seven years of Newcastle Hospitals data.
• Ananthakrishnan, Milne-Ives, Cong et al. & Meinert — The evaluation of health recommender systems: A scoping review. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 2025.
• Onyeachu, Bounsall, Inches et al., Meinert & Carroll — SMaRT-PD CDSS: A Service Improvement Initiative for Self-Management and Clinical Decision Support in Parkinson’s. IEEE International Conference on Digital Health, 2025.
• Milne-Ives, Bounsall, Ananthakrishnan, Brownson-Smith, Cong, Carroll & Meinert — Barriers and facilitators for digital health medical device registration in the UK: A scoping review. medRxiv preprint, April 2025.

Team News

The past year has also seen notable transitions within the lab, reflecting the strength of the research environment and the career trajectories it enables.

Dr Madison Milne-Ives, whose PhD was awarded with no corrections and who received the Newcastle University Thesis Prize, has taken up a new appointment at King’s College London. During her time in the lab, Maddie was lead or co-author on multiple high-impact publications spanning digital health regulation, health recommender systems, and chronic disease self-management, including work that directly underpins the MAXine platform’s regulatory strategy.

Dr Rosiered Brownson-Smith has also moved to King’s College London, taking up a new research appointment. Her work in the lab on the UNEEG project contributed to the group’s growing portfolio in neurological monitoring and digital biomarkers.

Ananya Ananthakrishnan has moved on to a fully funded PhD, building on her prolific output in the lab. Ananya was first author on the health recommender systems scoping review (International Journal of Medical Informatics, 2025) and the mobile apps for psychotic disorders protocol (2026), and contributed to multiple other lab publications across Parkinson’s and clinical decision support.

Elsewhere, Dr Cen Cong — who completed her postdoctoral fellowship in the lab — was awarded a prestigious UKRI Metascience AI Early Career Fellowship (2026–2027), further demonstrating the calibre of researchers this group produces.

These achievements sit alongside the broader alumni record. Lab alumni have gone on to secure UKRI-funded fellowships, competitive doctoral positions, and roles across clinical AI, health technology, and academic research. Full details are on our Alumni page.

GNOSIS Health — From Research to Nationally Funded Innovation

GNOSIS Health was founded to transform how chronic disease is managed, moving from episodic care to continuous, personalised support powered by artificial intelligence.

Originating from translational research in digital health and clinical AI, the company focuses on developing scalable solutions that integrate patient-reported data, real-time monitoring, and intelligent clinical insights. Its core platform, MAXine, is designed to support daily disease management, enabling earlier intervention, improved patient engagement, and more informed clinical decision-making.

Innovate UK Award

In 2025, GNOSIS Health secured a competitive Innovate UK award for the project:

The project, led by Professor Meinert and GNOSIS Healthcare Ltd, was awarded circa £600,000 and runs from July 2025 to December 2026. This national funding recognised GNOSIS Health as a high-potential, research-driven venture addressing a critical gap in healthcare: the lack of continuous, data-driven support for patients living with long-term conditions.

Seed Round

Alongside the Innovate UK award, GNOSIS Health secured £570,000 in venture capital and private investment, bringing the total seed round to over £1 million. This early-stage backing reflects strong investor confidence in both the clinical evidence base behind MAXine and the commercial opportunity in AI-enabled chronic disease management.

What the Funding Enables

The combined investment supports the development and validation of the MAXine platform, specifically to:

• Deliver personalised daily care through AI-driven insights
• Enable real-time health monitoring using patient-reported and digital data
• Provide actionable clinical intelligence to support decision-making
• Advance the platform from research prototype to real-world deployment

The work is initially focused on chronic disease management, with Parkinson’s disease as a key use case, while maintaining a scalable architecture applicable across multiple conditions.

From Lab to Real-World Impact

The award and investment mark a pivotal transition for GNOSIS Health:

• From academic research to funded innovation programme
• From concept to clinically validated digital platform
• From single-disease focus to scalable chronic disease solution

The project also underpins ongoing collaborations with clinical partners and lays the foundation for broader deployment across healthcare systems.

Looking Ahead

GNOSIS Health is now focused on delivering the MAXine platform into real-world settings, expanding its clinical applications, and working with healthcare providers, industry partners, and research organisations to scale impact.

The ambition is clear: to enable continuous, intelligent, and personalised care at scale, fundamentally improving outcomes for patients living with chronic disease.

Active Trials and Ongoing Projects

NMS Assist — Our Parkinson’s UK-funded study evaluating a co-designed mobile app for non-motor symptom self-management is actively recruiting participants. People with Parkinson’s and their carers are invited to take part in this six-month evaluation.

NEWS2 Algorithm Refinement — Algorithm development using seven years of Newcastle Hospitals electronic health records began in April 2025, with findings expected by the end of 2026. The next phase will test the refined algorithm across multiple NHS Trusts before implementation studies begin in Newcastle.

SMaRT-PD — The clinical decision support system for Parkinson’s, developed in collaboration with Professor Camille Carroll, continues to iterate. With 58 rule-based decision trees integrating care records, wearable sensor data, and patient-reported outcomes, SMaRT-PD was presented at both the MDS International Congress (2024) and IEEE Digital Health (2025).

CALM — Our bipolar disorder digital intervention has completed its co-design phase and the prototype is entering development for evaluation.

NoObesity — The redesigned childhood obesity prevention app, funded by Health Education England and NHS England, is entering its next evaluation phase.

Looking Ahead

The next twelve months will see the MAXine platform enter real-world settings, the NEWS2 algorithm tested at sites across the UK, and new research protocols in psychotic disorders and digital health regulation move forward. We continue to welcome approaches from prospective doctoral researchers, clinical collaborators, and industry partners.

Last modified: Sun, 12 Apr 2026 13:53:59 BST