I write this to clarify certain unclear points and to amplify material deficiencies in articles that appeared on March 25, March 28 and April 22.
This needs to be made because possible human failings on my part have been instrumentalised through sensationalism to seriously damage my own reputation. More importantly, it questions the credibility and integrity of an independently tested, proven and useful aid for families coping with the day-to-day management of children growing up with autism spectrum disorder, known as Mente Autism.
The report published by The Sunday Times of Malta and subsequently mirrored by Neurotech International Ltd (NTI) in a release, have appeared against a backdrop where a former employee of AAT Research and AAT Medical, both subsidiaries of NTI, and myself have been in a serious litigious dispute, which is now before the Maltese courts after the other party demanded €250,000 from NTI in 2017.
This is a judicially-contested alleged case of copyright infringement unrelated to the Mente Autism product. The allegation is strongly denied by both NTI and myself and the demand for money to settle the matter out of court was strongly rejected.
Several years ago, my research, which led to a Master’s degree at the London Metropolitan University, attracted the attention of other peers and it was erroneously stated I had been awarded a PhD since I continued doing research with the intention of finalising a doctorate.
I omitted to correct it and, by time, it was repeated and perpetuated. This was never done with malice but, on reflection, it was borne out of misplaced hubris that has no place in scientific research.
I commenced my formal research that led to the creation of the Mente Autism device in 2008, when I first moved to London. I did my Master’s project on ‘an inexpensive method to accurately represent brainwaves into music’. This is where I developed a method for converting EEG brainwaves into sound, the basis for the therapy developed in Mente.
I went on to register at a number of physiology and other research laboratories at UK universities to continue working on the same concepts to gather the base knowledge needed for my research, which I referred to as ‘brain music therapy’.
Along the way, I published scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, with the first one in 2010 and its content picked up on an article published on the UK’s Readers Digest (https://www.readersdigest.ca/culture/doctors-orders-one-dose-bach-twice-day/).
Due to failing health and later the passing away of a close family member, among other personal matters, I postponed my doctoral work and moved back to Malta in 2011 to be close to my family.
As a result of the research, carried out between 2008 and 2011, the following scientific papers on international peer reviewed journals were published, among others: 2010 � ‘Low-end device to convert EEG waves to music’; http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=15298; 2011 – ‘Brain music system: standardised brain music therapy’ https://digital-library.theiet.org/content/conferences/10.1049/ic.2011.0029; 2011 – ‘Brain music system. Brain music therapy based on real-time sonified brain signals’ https://www.menteautism.it/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/TREVISAN-AA-Trevisan-BMS-based-on-real-time-sonified-brain-signals-2011-SI.pdf.
I developed this research as a therapy for children on the autism spectrum that helps them relax. While presenting some outcomes of this research at a conference in Greece in 2011, I met an eminent professor of neurophysiology who got interested in my research and, after discussing with him, invited me to sit for a written and oral admission exam at the University of Milan and, if were to be among the top 10 students, I would be able to transfer all my research to his laboratory and finalise my doctorate under his supervision.
I was successful and my research was transferred to Milan.
In 2012, I had started to work on the Mente therapy as a commercial device in Malta as the product of my new company, AAT Research Ltd. It was extremely challenging as we could have easily registered the device and therapy as a “wearable” device that would not require any regulatory certification as a medical device.
The product is based on research in the well-established field of neurofeedback, a method to practise new ways to control your brainwaves to improve a health condition.
The product is based on research in the well-established field of neurofeedback
As we wanted to create a certified product that parents and medical professionals would trust, we preferred to have it independently evaluated according to European medical device legislation.
The process was very long, strenuous, and very expensive, which included mortgaging all our assets to secure the livelihood of the growing group of engineers and developers. They helped to improve the technology and develop it according to standard requirements for safety and performance and also build a software infrastructure around it that was easy to use for patients.
This whole concept of a medical device start-up was alien to Malta as no regulator (notified body) existed locally and the authorities here, as well as consultancy companies, could not give us much guidance.
The companies in Malta that are part of the medical device industry were multinational companies and none created medical electronic wearable devices with software to provide therapy.
We had to find a regulator in Milan and persuade them to come to Malta to audit us and certify our product over a long period. We worked hard for long stressful hours for a number of years.
Certification was finally achieved in 2015, making it at the time the first medical device of its kind as a therapy for autism spectrum disorder to be certified in Europe.
Concurrently, in 2015, I finalised and was awarded my PhD by the University of Milan on the developed therapy. This doctorate is in human physiology with specialisation in neurophysiology. Neurophysiology is the branch of neuroscience that looks at how the brain and its functions relate to different parts of the body and the role of the nervous system.
AAT Research gave some devices for free to families with children on the autism spectrum. A number of children benefitted from the therapy and their parents stated so publicly.
We also noticed it was not effective on all children on the autism spectrum, which is why we developed a method for determining whether the device would be useful for the child. This involves performing a standard QEEG test for free before parents bought the device to determine that the brainwave levels of the child fell within the right parameters for the therapy.
New investors came on board and, against my declared wish but demanded by commercial reality, a higher price was set for the sale of the product.
Given my priorities were deemed more technical and much less than commercially viable, the board of directors installed a new CEO to commercialise the product more effectively.
Eventually, I decided to leave the company but remained a contracted consultant since the company still needed my help to continue improving the therapy. I also remained a non-executive director for a while.
The company wanted to independently validate the therapy and a group of international scientists with credentials associated with the University of Cambridge and Harvard Macy, among others, published a double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial on one of the highest standing peer-reviewed journals in the field, Frontiers in Neurology, essentially replicating very similar results my studies had shown (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2018.00537/full).
My autism research has been the subject of strenuous examinations by several professional international authorities, been widely published and has never been challenged for its authenticity and there has never been any accusation of plagiarism in this regard.
An articles in the Times of Malta mentioned an alleged case of plagiarism clearly made by the same party we are in court with. The accusations are limited to copyright infringement of images and text, not related to Mente Autism. This is the subject of court proceedings in Malta.
The comments about obtaining government funding from the Malta Council for Science and Technology are related to a separate epilepsy project, headed by the University of Malta and the University of Cardiff, which asked AAT Research to join them as a commercial partner. Funds obtained were used to employ a researcher solely for this project.
The destruction of a personal reputation, which has been extremely hard won over a period of a decade of personal sacrifice, is one aspect that arguably may be warranted collateral damage arising out of my failure to correct a historical wrong.
The other is the long shadow cast on the credibility and usefulness of a proven aid now available to families battling the otherwise debilitating management of autism spectrum disorder. This is an aid that has been strenuously tested by independent government regulators in Europe and has been, to an extent, discredited for reasons which, at best, are unclear and, at worst, prompted by vexatious actions and financial gain considerations currently the subject of court proceedings.
Adrian Attard Trevisan is an inventor.
This is a Times of Malta print opinion piece