BitMap - Brain injury and trauma monitoring using advanced photonics - H2020

Abstract

Our vision is to develop a suite of standardised non-invasive devices that will provide essential information about brain health in neurocritical care and neuromonitoring, with a particular emphasis on 1. traumatic brain injury: the “silent epidemic of the third millennium” and 2. hypoxia in newborn children. Survivors present permanent neurological conditions that have a profound impact on the quality of life of individuals and their families, and hence a large socio-economic impact. The key factors influencing these conditions and their treatment are the avoidance of brain hypoxia and metabolic disturbances and this is driving the transfer of new neuromonitoring systems to the bedside where they are being shown to have a transformative effect on patient care. BitMap is developing non-invasive photonics-based monitoring techniques and data analysis methods to provide biomarkers to guide patient management. A cohort of multi-disciplinary Early Stage Researchers (ESRs), embedded in leading laboratories across Europe, are working together on a programme to address the key technological and clinical challenges in neurocritical care. The ESRs benefit from the diverse range of expertise in advanced photonics and clinical application which substantially enhances their research competitiveness and employability, and form a critical mass of skilled people working together towards new technologies for improved neuroclinical care. The challenges involved are fundamentally multi-disciplinary and therefore ESRs trained in a multi-disciplinary environment are essential if progress and clinical impact is to be made. There is currently no graduate programme producing researchers with these attributes, but there is a significant market for such PhDs in the rapidly developing area of biomedical optics and in general in medical imaging technology development. The BitMap project therefore addresses both a clinical and economic need.