Improving oxygen monitoring technology for young children and infants

Details

Measuring oxygen levels in children is crucial, often considered as important as monitoring other vital signs like heart rate and temperature. However, doing so in infants and pre-schoolers outside of hospitals can be challenging.

Guidelines at both national and international levels suggest checking oxygen levels in primary care for children with respiratory issues to help decide if they need to be referred to a specialist. However, there’s concern that the technology used for these measurements might be leading to unnecessary diagnoses, resulting in more hospital admissions for conditions like bronchiolitis in infants.

Surprisingly, the ability to monitor oxygen levels in children is not widely available in regular doctor’s offices, even though respiratory infections are a common reason for children to visit primary care.

Finding simpler and more reliable methods to measure oxygen levels in children could not only improve decision-making in regular healthcare settings but could also be a valuable tool for monitoring at home, especially during potential respiratory pandemics. This issue is not just relevant to well-resourced areas but is also crucial in places where resources are limited, as pneumonia remains a leading cause of death in young children.

Aim

We will develop a smart material, e.g., fabric, sticker, as a custom interactive physical interface to improve sensing readings for oxygen measurements acquired at the tip of infants’ and children’s fingers, by finding suitable and seamless ways to engage the children in this process.

Key objectives

We will begin by conducting initial trials with children to examine different items like objects, fabrics, and toys. The goal is to figure out which interfaces could be effectively incorporated into a custom oxygen measurement device.

We’ll work on developing a physical interface using electro-luminescence, inspired by the principles of oximeters, to enhance the accuracy of oxygen measurements. This interface also needs to fit well with how children naturally interact. The interface will be tested in real-world conditions, considering factors like flexion, bending, and stretching, while also assessing its performance on the smaller fingers of children.

Next, we’ll implement an active interface to improve the sensing capabilities, along with setting up the necessary tools for data acquisition and ensuring portability.

To make the device engaging for a wide range of ages, we’ll create various interfaces and evaluate their effectiveness with different age groups.

This project will give you the opportunity to work alongside patients, families, clinicians, engineers, and other experts in a pioneering cross-disciplinary programme to develop new digital platforms and technologies that can address unmet needs in child health.

This is a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of innovative developments in the field of paediatric digital healthcare technology and to make change happen for the better.

As a member of our team, you will receive training in fabricating flexible interfaces and functional materials, as well as the principles of wearables. These skills form the core of our laboratory’s expertise. Our work on medical robots has garnered significant attention from both mainstream and specialised media outlets, including Forbes, The Economist, New Scientist, The Telegraph, and USA Today. National Geographic recognised our medical robots as one of the 12 Innovations that will revolutionise medicine in 2019, and Scientific American highlighted our work among the 10 Ideas that will change the world in 2016.

This project is a collaboration between Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, the NIHR Children and Young People MedTech Co-operative, and the Insigneo Institute at the University of Sheffield.

Now it’s in its fourth 5-year term, a BRC National Paediatric Excellence Initiative has been set up between GOSH BRC and the children’s hospitals in Birmingham, Sheffield, and Liverpool. The GOSH BRC’s aim is to transform the health of children, and the adults they will become, by combining cutting-edge research methods with world-leading clinical trial expertise, to accelerate the discovery of new treatments for children with rare and complex conditions.

More information can be found here: https://sites.google.com/site/danadamian

Entry requirements

Candidates are expected to have a background in one of the following fields: Mechanical Engineering, Robotics, Mechatronics, Electrical Engineering, Material Engineering, Bioengineering, Control, or a related field. Applicants should have, or expect to achieve a first or upper second class UK honours degree or equivalent qualifications gained outside the UK in an appropriate area of study. 

How to apply

Please complete a University Postgraduate Research Application form available here: www.shef.ac.uk/postgraduate/research/apply

Please clearly state the prospective main supervisor Dr Dana Damian in the respective box and select Automatic Control & Systems Engineering as the department.

Enquiries

Pre-application and informal enquiries accompanied by a CV are encouraged to contact Sarah Black (Insigneo Administrative Manager, [email protected]).

If you have questions about the project, feel free to email Dr Dana Damian (Primary Supervisor, [email protected]).

Deadline

Monday 12 February 2024