Lassonde School of Engineering Professor Ebrahim Ghafar-Zadeh is using the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada Engage Grant to develop a system for preventing premature births.
Though premature births may not pose as great a risk as they once did, up to 10 per cent of births worldwide are premature and approximately 15 per cent of premature infants still develop severe health issues.
Respiratory irregularities are the first sign of a medical condition in preterm or regular term infants. Improvements in neonatal intensive care unit technology have been made, however, home monitoring still remains a challenge for many parents of preemies.
Ghafar-Zadeh has collaborated with Studio1Labs Inc. to develop the Functional Bed Sheet, a monitoring system that can detect infants’ respiratory changes and other movements. This wireless technology is washable, non-invasive, safe and low cost.
Ghafar-Zadeh is an assistant professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at the Lassonde School of Engineering at York University.