Some CiC Success Stories:
| An acoustic screening device for valvular heart disease |
Valvular heart disease (VHD) has been called the "next cardiac epidemic" and as a result, early detection in the community is a priority in the NHS Long Term Plan. The first test to detect significant VHD is a GP listening with a stethoscope, but their sensitivity is low and less than 10% of relevant patients are screened. Thus, there is an urgent, unmet need for a quick, accurate screening tool for VHD to pick up cases before the onset of life-limiting symptoms and sudden cardiac death. Professor Anurag Agarwal from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering and his team have developed with MRC CiC funding support a handheld six-sensor device that could potentially replace stethoscopes as a tool for detecting VHD. In parallel, the researchers have developed a machine learning algorithm that can use the recorded heart sounds to detect signs of valve disease automatically. Early tests of the algorithm suggest that it outperforms GPs in detecting heart valve disease. The next step will be to test the device in a clinical setting on a variety of patients. Read more of the story on the University website! Further Coverage: The Telegraph |
| Parallel Transmit 7T-MRI in drug-resistant focal epilepsy |
MRC CiC funding supported a first-in-patient study to use a new ultra-powerful MRI scanner technique to identify tiny differences in patients’ brains that cause treatment-resistant epilepsy. It has allowed researchers at the University of Cambridge’s Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, working with colleagues at the Université Paris-Saclay, to change the epilepsy management of more than half of the patients taking part in the trial to their advantage. Read more of the story on the University website! Further Coverage: UKRI-MRC, U.S.News, Guardian, Daily Mail |
| MI-SCS: Minimally invasive Spinal Cord Stimulator |
Proof of concept funding by a CiC Award in 2019, led to the further development of tiny, flexible devices that wrap around the spinal cord and could offer new ways to treat disability and paralysis-causing spinal injuries. Co-led by Dr Damiano Barone from the Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Professor George Malliaras from the Department of Engineering, a team of engineers, neuroscientists and surgeons from the University of Cambridge reported for the first time safe 360-degree recording of the spinal cord by wrapping very thin, high-resolution implants around the spinal cord’s circumference. The Cambridge-developed biocompatible devices – just a few millionths of a metre thick and made using advanced photolithography and thin film deposition techniques - intercept the signals travelling on the axons, or nerve fibres, of the spinal cord, allowing the signals to be recorded. The thinness of the devices means they can record the signals without causing any damage to the nerves, as they do not penetrate the spinal cord itself. Read more of the story on the University website! Coverage of the research findings also included: : Daily Mail, Independent, Evening Standard, ITV Anglia, US News & World Report and Irish Examiner. |
| NeWTS: Neonatal Wireless Transmission System |
Following an initial CiC Award and through an NIHR i4i Product Development Award, a team from the Departments of Paediatrics and Engineering, as well as Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, developed a novel "Neonatal Wireless Transmission System (NeWTS)" that includes all four key elements of intensive care monitoring: skin temperature, heart activity (ECG, electrocardiogram), respiratory rate, and blood oxygen levels (pulse oximetry). The wireless system enables easier physical contact with the babies, reducing practical barriers for parents providing care, and saving nursing time. For more information: https://www.enterprise.cam.ac.uk/opportunities/neonatal-wireless-transmission-system/. |