Dr. Wolfgang Pernice,
Columbia University
Using AI to Our Advantage: A Breakthrough Tool for Tracking CMT Progression
The CMT Research Foundation has invested in a research project with Dr. Wolfgang Pernice at Columbia University to develop a novel tool for clinical endpoint monitoring of Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease progression entitled DANCER: Digital Assessment of Natural Motion for Clinical Endpoint Research.
Due to progressive muscle weakness and sensory deficits, patients with CMT exhibit characteristic movement patterns, such as impaired gait. Although impaired mobility can be a defining feature of the disease, our ability to accurately detect subtle changes in how patients with CMT move has thus far been limited.
Recent technological advances have made it possible to unlock comprehensive 3D analysis of whole-body gait and motion outside specialized laboratory settings. Building on advances at the frontier of artificial intelligence (AI), the DANCER platform enables accurate recovery of complete 3D whole-body pose and shape from single-camera videos collected under real-world conditions using any consumer smartphone.
Our goal is to move beyond the limitations of traditional motion capture and bring precise, quantitative movement analysis into everyday environments. By using AI to extract rich biomechanical data from simple videos, we can create sensitive measures of disease progression that are both scalable and patient-centered.