The Sync Project

RNS Number : 6253E

PureTech Health PLC

05 November 2015

 



5 November 2015

PureTech Health plc

The Sync Project

PureTech operating company The Sync Project today announced that it will collaborate with HINTSA Performance, a leading institution focused on performance improvement for elite athletes, sporting teams and corporations, to initiate a study of the impact of personalised music on athletic performance.

Daphne Zohar, Chief Executive Officer of PureTech, said: "PureTech welcomes the exciting collaboration between The Sync Project and HINTSA Performance studying the potential to enhance athletes' performance with the SYNC personalised music platform.  Research has shown that music can have a positive impact on physical and mental endurance and motivation - factors with important implications for athletics as well as management and recovery from conditions such as Parkinson's disease, stroke, pain, and chronic fatigue in the elderly.  This collaboration is an important step to develop the SYNC platform as a potential personalised therapeutic for these conditions."

The full text of the announcement from The Sync Project is as follows:

The Sync Project and HINTSA Performance Partner to Study Music's Ability to Improve Performance in Athletic Training

Boston, Massachusetts, November 5, 2015 - The Sync Project, a global collaboration harnessing the power of music for health, and HINTSA Performance, one of the world's leading coaching companies focused on performance improvement in corporate and sports markets, today announced plans to initiate a study of the impact of music on athletic performance.

The study will examine the ability of The Sync Project's personalized music platform to improve athletic performance in high intensity interval training. During the course of the study, elite athletes working with HINTSA Performance will be monitored conducting their interval training to music while using The Sync Project's platform and custom-designed music-biometric mobile application.

"HINSTA Performance is an ideal partner for this study as the organization is well-regarded for its scientific methodology and evidence-based approach to performance and health," said Marko Ahtisaari, CEO and co-founder of The Sync Project. "This partnership will enable us to engage in pioneering research with some of the world's top athletes to uncover the potential impact of music on performance."

"Many of our athletes regularly integrate music into their training regimen because they intuitively believe it helps them to stay focused and motivated," said James Hewitt, Director, Science and Development of HINSTA Performance. "The latest research suggests that certain music can have benefits for improving endurance and managing fatigue. We look forward to working with The Sync Project to explore this science and to identify potential opportunities to enhance athletes' performance with music."

Up to 20 athletes will participate in the study which will consist of two phases. The initial phase will monitor participants' performance measures and biometric data, including heart rate, while analyzing the characteristics of the athletes' personally selected music. Based on initial findings, the second phase of the study will create and introduce personalized musical playlists based on the study participants' individual musical preferences and biometric data and designed with the intent to optimize the athletes' performance. Athletes in the second phase of the study will be monitored during training while both utilizing the personalized playlist and while utilizing a general 'control' playlist to assess benefits in performance resulting from the biometric and preference-based personalization of music.

Recent research has shown that music can modulate neural systems like the dopamine response, autonomic nervous system, and others related to stress, movement, learning and memory. This research shows that music affects the same neural pathways that are regulated by pharmaceuticals such as psychostimulants and other drugs. Building on these latest scientific advances, The Sync Project aims to develop music as a personalized therapeutic for a variety of conditions, including Parkinson's, pain, sleep disorders, fatigue, stroke recovery, anxiety and athletic performance.

The Sync Project works with some of the world's leading scientists to decode the health effects of music by providing them a platform to perform studies using biometric sensors and smartphones. The platform is designed for medical and health research, helping scientists, technologists and clinicians perform rigorous studies and potentially accelerate the discovery of the clinical applications of music with scientific validation.

About HINTSA Performance

The Hintsa philosophy and coaching methodology intended to improve wellness and performance has been developed over the past 20 years by Dr Aki Hintsa and his team. The main laboratory for this development work has been the Formula 1 racing class. Four F1 world champions (altogether 10 championships), along with several Olympic gold medalists, World Championship holders, and numerous international corporate executives have followed the Hintsa philosophy and methodology in practice. Deep medical insight is provided by the Hintsa Science Team, an international group of top doctors, scientists and health specialists.

About The Sync Project

The Sync Project, a PureTech Health company, is developing a platform to scientifically measure and study the effects of music on our health in areas like sleep, cognition, motor coordination and performance. The goal is to collect and correlate real-time biometric data and music, so that we can pinpoint and understand the health properties of music. Advisors include Robert Zatorre, Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University, Tristan Jehan, Founding CTO of The Echo Nest (Spotify), Hugh Forrest, Director at South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Festival, and Adam Gazzaley, Director of the Neuroscience Imaging Center and Professor of Physiology, Psychology and Psychiatry at UCSF. The Sync Project's Board of Directors includes Dame Marjorie Scardino, Chairman of the MacArthur Foundation and former CEO of Pearson, Joi Ito, Director of the MIT Media Lab, and Daphne Zohar, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PureTech. For more information visit syncproject.co and connect with us on Twitter.

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About PureTech Health

PureTech Health (PureTech Health plc, PRTC.L) is a cross-disciplinary healthcare company, developing innovative products that could potentially improve the lives of billions of patients. PureTech has a pipeline of 12 operating companies, seven of which are "growth stage" with external validation including strategic partnerships, outside funding, proof-of-concept and/or peer review in prestigious scientific journals. PureTech also has a pipeline of ten "concept phase" initiatives resulting from review of more than 650 ideas annually. PureTech is focused on areas including immune and inflammatory disorders; cognitive and psychiatric disorders; diabetes and obesity; oncology; and infectious diseases, and has over 110 patents and patent applications. PureTech's leading team and board, along with an advisory network of more than 50 expert founder-scientists and advisors across multiple disciplines, gives PureTech access to potentially ground-breaking science and technological innovation. For more information, visit www.puretechhealth.com and connect with us on Twitter.

Forward Looking Statement

This press release contains statements that are or may be forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to the company's future prospects, developments and strategies. The forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ materially from current expectations, including, but not limited to, those risks and uncertainties described in the risk factors included in the regulatory filings for PureTech Health plc. These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the present and future business strategies of the company and the environment in which it will operate in the future. Each forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this press release. Except as required by law and regulatory requirements, neither the company nor any other party intends to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Enquiries:

PureTech Julie DiCarlo, Senior Vice President, Communications and Investor Relations	[phone]
FTI Consulting (Communications adviser to PureTech) Ben Atwell Matthew Cole	[phone]

 

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