We were thrilled to host The Future Leaders in Innovation, Enterprise, and Research (FLIER) program at Aparito in April of 2023. The visit was a part of the FLIERs Immersion Day, which aims to foster collaboration and interdisciplinary work across academia, industry, the NHS, and government to drive innovation in the life sciences sector.

Aparito FLIER session April 2023

Putting patient engagement at the forefront

We kicked off the day with Dr Elisa Ferrer Mallol and Navdeep Sahota discussing Aparito’s Patient Group Accelerator Program (PGAP), which aims to revolutionise the rare disease research world. Our approach puts patient engagement first, ensuring that those with lived experience of rare diseases have a voice.

PGAP is Aparito’s way of shaking things up in the rare disease research world, putting patient engagement at the forefront. In the quest for solutions to these often-neglected conditions, we give those who know them best – the patients – a seat at the table.

By tapping into their invaluable expertise, we can identify overlooked aspects of their illnesses and create more reliable outcomes for clinical trials.

Wearables, hardware and data

Next, Sandra Komarzynski, Jonathan Bullock and Christian Weaves shared our exciting work with Garmin Health’s wearable devices in clinical trials. The data we receive via Garmin Health’s SDK provides a rich tapestry of accelerations, activity count, step count, distance, activity type, and activity intensities. We also have access to data from light sensors and intervals between each reading, oxygen saturation, respiration rate, and sleep data. 

Jonathan Bullock at Aparito FLIER session April 2023
Christian Weaves at Aparito FLIER session April 2023

Sandra and Christian then detailed a pioneering program with Yumen Bionics to transform raw data from hardware into insight-rich analyses using the Atom5TM platform as part of the DT4RD initiative. Through DT4RD, we aim to develop non-invasive tools for measuring mobility in rare disease patients using wearable sensors integrated with Atom5TM and at-home video assessments to capture physiological and psychosocial parameters.

Our team believes in the power of wearable devices not only to accelerate study timelines and reduce participant burden but also to generate novel insights and improve clinical decision-making based on high-quality data.

Video-based assessments

Dr. Rabia Aziza capped the day’s presentations with a session on our advanced video capture and analysis capabilities.

Dr Rabia Aziza at Aparito FLIER session April 2023

Dr Aziza shared how our video capture capabilities have been deployed for a variety of use cases including gait analysis, assessing strength, and investigating facial feature dynamics. 

She demonstrated how video capture can provide new clinical endpoints through at-home assessments and how Aparito can time each section of a task separately and run more advanced analyses like measuring the angle of the knee and arm swing to see differences in the walking patterns.


The FLIER Immersion Day was a fantastic opportunity to share our work and collaborate with others in the life sciences sector. We look forward to continuing to drive innovation and put patients at the forefront of rare disease research.


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