€570k grant for system to monitor infant brain injuries

Cork-based researchers have been awarded €570,000 towards developing a brain monitoring system designed to help detect the severity of brain damage in babies injured at birth.

Infant, the perinatal research centre developing the system, said ultimately, it will be integrated into cot-side monitoring of all infants admitted to neonatal intensive care units.

Infant centre director and professor of neonatal physiology Geraldine Boylan said the Delphi project will create a monitoring system using artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse newborn electrical brain patterns and combine this data with other vital sign information, to provide an overall brain health index for the baby.