Nottingham feels the beat for tiny feet

Nottingham University is teaming with electronics specialist Tioga for a new joint venture which will see the development of a heart rate monitoring device for babies who require resuscitation.

A portion of all babies born will require resuscitation after birth, with a delay leading to either brain damage or death. Currently, doctors will perform an assessment on a baby’s heart rate every 30 seconds via stethoscope during the resuscitation process. However, this method is both open to human error, and may fail to pick up sudden problems that arise during the 30 second intervals.

The new company, HeartLight, will provide a sensor which will allow for continual monitoring of a baby’s vital signs without the need for breaks, providing a smoother resuscitation process and greater chances of survival. Studies into the viability of the technology have been conducted from 2007, and HeartLight has secured a £1.7m ($2.57m) grant from the UK government’s Innovate UK via its Biomedical Catalyst programme, which will be used to further develop the technology.

Russell Hoyle, Chairman of Tioga, added: “I firmly believe that the opportunities for HeartLight are huge. With its potential applications in the medical and mining sectors, amongst others, it has tremendous potential for social impact. I’d like to thank Barrie and the rest of the team at the University for all their hard work in developing the technology, this is a very exciting project and we are really looking forward to partnering with them on the next stage of HeartLight’s journey.”