A team from INFANT travel to Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute in Moshi, Northern Tanzania this week.

As Ireland’s first and only perinatal research centre, INFANT is focussed on making pregnancy safer and improving health outcomes for mothers and babies worldwide. In particular, the centre’s Global Health Program is committed to translating the centre’s innovations into affordable, accessible interventions in countries where the clinical need is greatest and will have the highest impact.

In 2016, INFANT signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI), the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC), and the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical University College (KCMUC) establishing a collaborative research partnership in a number of scientific and clinical areas.

Mike Cuneen, INFANT Software Developer presenting the new cloud-based birth registry to KCMC clinicians.

This partnership is currently working on a project to enhance the KCMC birth registry. Birth registry data is a vital source of information for healthcare providers, funders and policy makers as it contains data on maternal and infant outcomes from each baby born every year. INFANT engineers and software developers initiated and developed this project to enhance the KCMC Medical Birth Registry, making this hugely valuable data accessible to researchers beyond KCMC and INFANT.  This week INFANT will pilot the new high quality, cloud-based birth registry, provide essential training to staff and implement improvements to the system based on local feedback at KCMC.

KCMC staff undertaking bubble CPAP training.

The week-long visit will also include a number of meetings with research and clinical colleagues, tours of the Maternity Ward and Birth Registry Offices, a visit to a regional community health centre, discussions on collaborative funding opportunities and the initiation of a postgraduate student exchange programme.

Speaking about the trip, INFANT Director Prof Geraldine Boylan said that the collaboration between INFANT, UCC and KCRI has gone from strength to strength and she acknowledged the important role that support from ESTHER Ireland had played in enhancing this important collaboration.

Professor Helen Whelton, Head of College of Medicine and Health commented “The partnership to date has been a huge success and we look forward to strengthening our relationship with KCMC in the coming years. International engagement is a priority for UCC and partnerships like these enhance our mission of creating, understanding and sharing knowledge and applying it for the good of all”.

This week, INFANT Director and Associate Investigators presented at ‘The Future of Machine Learning’ Conference at the Maryborough Hotel, Cork.

The event organised by MIDAS, in conjunction with Qualcomm and UCC brought together experts in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning to encourage collaboration and innovation that leverages machine learning in Ireland. The day included discussions on why machine learning is important to Ireland and how Ireland’s machine learning research and development is establishing and pushing the research vision.

Prof Geraldine Boylan presented ‘Big ideas for little brains – using AI to help identify brain injury in newborn infants‘. Using artificial intelligence, INFANT has developed the world’s first AI algorithm that can detect seizures in newborns and the centre is continuously looking at ways to integrate AI into its healthcare research.

INFANT has a large portfolio of projects for AI in healthcare research and last year won the AI Ireland National Award for ‘Best Appilication of AI in an Acaedemic Research Body’.

Speaking after the event Prof Boylan said, “I was delighted to present at this high calibre event and for the opportunity to network with colleagues in academia, industry and Government. We are really at the start of a revolution in the use of AI for health care that will shape the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the future. Partnering with AI and machine learning experts throughout Ireland will allow INFANT to further develop innovative technologies in healthcare and to make it a reality for all”.

INFANT and UCC was well represented on the day with INFANT Associate Investigators Dr Andriy Temko and Dr Emanuel Popovici also presenting at the event.

Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD, and Minister for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development, John Halligan TD, today announced €4.5 million in funding for 38 research projects to support the commercialisation of government-funded research.

The funding is provided through Science Foundation Ireland’s Technology Innovation Development Award (TIDA) programme, which has been running since 2009. The programme provides project development funding and training in entrepreneurship skills to third-level researchers, to support them in exploring commercial opportunities associated with their research.

John was awarded €124,712 which he will use to support the development of a computer-based system that continuously monitors the brain health of preterm infants in intensive care. Worldwide, over 2 million infants born prematurely are at an increased risk (1 in 3) of brain injury. This injury can be fatal or can result in a lifetime of disability. Knowing which infants are at risk ensures that that the right infants get the right medical care at the right time. John and his research group will pursue commercial pathways to transition this technology from academia to industry in order to safeguard the brains of this vulnerable population.

Pictured: Dr John O Toole

Researchers funded through the TIDA programme will also participate in the new SFI Spark Pre-Accelerator, which is an intensive five-day programme delivered by the DCU Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurs. This will support STEM researchers to develop skills in areas such as evidence-based entrepreneurship, innovation and design thinking and facilitates mentoring and networking.

Prof Geraldine Boylan, Director of INFANT, said “I offer my congratulations to John – INFANT is delighted to support this worthy research project. Awards like the TIDA programme allow us to continue to create ground-breaking discoveries and translate them into innovative tests, treatments and solutions that will positively impact mothers, newborn and children’s health outcomes internationally”.