In The News
by Megan Gales
Dr. Rosalind Sadleir is out for blood.
She's studying the build-up of blood that often collects in the brains of babies born prematurely. When a baby is born several weeks too soon, it's fairly common for its delicate brain cells to be damaged, and for blood to accumulate in the fluid in the center of its brain, Sadleir said. It's potentially life threatening, and some studies suggest a tie between it and developmental disabilities later in life, including conditions such as cerebral palsy.
Sadleir, a research assistant scientist in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, is developing a device that will reveal the blood's location and measure its quantity by creating a model of a baby's brain. Electrodes will gather information, which then will be processed by a small control box and transmitted wirelessly to a PDA-like handheld computer.
While doctors now can treat these intra-ventricular hemorrhages, they can't determine precisely their severity and accurately track changes. Sadleir's device isn't a new treatment, but rather an alert system.
"Whatever strategies are needed to deal with it, we can provide an early warning," she said.
Modern imaging techniques such as ultrasound and MRI are often used, but they have certain limitations.
Ultrasound equipment requires a trained technician to administer the test and interpret the results, as does MRI. Also, traditional MRI is difficult to perform on premature infants because of the special cribs in which they're confined and the tubes and wires that are attached. Sadleir said this new device will be simple and straightforward for untrained people to operate, and it will also be highly portable. It's not intended to replace current imaging equipment, but rather to complement it.
"We're seeking to cut right down the middle," Sadleir said. "This is something that's quick and gives exactly what's needed."
Given the rising cost of medical care, Sadleir said there is another benefit to her technique: In a field where imaging machines typically cost several million dollars, she expects this one to come in around $20,000. This caught the government's attention, too; the National Institutes of Health awarded her a 4-year grant geared specifically toward the development of low-cost, relevant imaging.
Sadleir and her team of University of Florida faculty and graduate students will first use complex software to create models of infant brains. She said they'll then analyze data and take it to a saline tank. The tank is similar in shape to a baby's skull, and they can pump fluid through it to act as "electrical blood." These simulations allow for more control over variables, Sadleir said, because they'll know exactly how much "blood" to look for, and they won't have to contend with the interference potentially caused by breathing and cardiac rhythms. Finally, they'll use 1- to 2-day-old piglets to refine the apparatus and perfect the detection methods.
She's quick to admit that the idea isn't original. One paper was published more than 15 years ago, but no one took it any further. Sadleir recently read another paper reviewing these types of technologies, and she said it made her wonder why researchers haven't pursued it. It was a challenge she couldn't pass up.
One other team of researchers is currently conducting similar experiments, but they're concentrating on adults. Sadleir said adults have hard and resistive skulls that create noise and interference during tests like these.
Infant skulls are soft and semi-flexible, which creates something of a moving target, but also provides a cleaner signal and better sensitivity to brain processes, she said.
"We think we might have a bit of an advantage by looking at newborns where their skulls are softer."
