Interview with Jan De Backer, CEO of Fluidda

Jan De Backer is founder and CEO of FLUIDDA, the world leader in the field of Functional Respiratory Imaging (FRI). FRI combines high-resolution CT scans and computational fluid dynamics technology to make clinical trials shorter, faster and more cost effective. Through its technology, FLUIDDA combines image processing of CT scans and flow simulations on patient-specific 3D models to provide a sensitive tool for phenotyping patients and monitoring the efficacy of novel respiratory drugs. Last year FLUIDDA introduced Broncholab, a diagnostic support tool to detect and improve therapy of lung diseases based on FRI technology.

De Backer graduated from Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands as an aerospace engineer. He received an MSc degree in aerodynamics and specialized in applied biomedical computational fluid dynamics leading to a PhD from the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He received an MBA from the London Business School, London and Columbia Business School, New York. De Backer has received several awards for his innovative research in the field of airway modeling in respiratory and sleep medicine. His work has been published in international journals.

Interview questions:

Introduction | Please provide an introduction to Fluidda? Employees, locations, products. What is a clinical research services company?

Respiratory Imaging in the Age of Covid | Can you explain the complexity of lung diseases and current diagnostic capabilities? What are the weaknesses of conventional CT scans? Can you explain functional respiratory imaging?

Impact | Please explain the potential impact on asthma and other respiratory diseases? How is Fluidda impacting drug development?

Machine Learning | What role does machine learning play in technology?

Personalized Medicine | How is Fluidda part of personalized medicine?

Experience | How many clinical centers have been trained worldwide? Clinical studies in disease characterization and therapy analysis?

Spinout | Tell us about how Fluidda was spun off out of the University of Antwerp?

Milestones | You have been CEO of Fluidda for 15 years. Can you share some of the major milestones?

FDA | In 2020 the US Food and Drug Administration provides market clearance to Fluidda for its Broncholab platform.

Capital | How has Fluidda been funded to date? Can you tell us about the partnership with Materialise?

Growth | What are the growth plans for Fluidda?

Connect with Jan on LinkedIn

FLUIDDA is a biomedical imaging company specializing in the combination of imaging modalities (CT, MRI, etc), advanced engineering methods like CFD and FEA and Machine Learning. This combination yields sensitive imaging biomarkers to better analyse the efficiency of existing therapies or optimize treatments under development. FLUIDDA is active in a range of different fields such as respiratory, sleep, musculoskeletal and cardiovascular medicine. In addition to providing proprietary technical processes, FLUIDDA also organizes and manages clinical imaging trials in support of the R&D technology.

Recent News:

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