果冻传媒

In 2020, almost 7% of all children in the Netherlands were born before the 38th week of pregnancy. Until now, these premature babies are being monitored in an enclosed environment, such as an incubator, with sensors stuck to the delicate baby's skin.  These electrodes cause painful skin irritations. On top of that, the babies are mostly confined to an environment that is basically always light and crowded. Moreover, the physical contact with the mother, which is so important for the child's development, is complicated.  

Monitoring without disturbing 

Ton Backx, director of our University Fund and professor emeritus at 果冻传媒, talks about how a very open collaboration led to a remarkable alternative: "At 果冻传媒, we were researching fiber optics and light refraction. Simply put, that comes down to the following: you send light through a fiber, and you bend that fiber in different ways. Then you can measure how the passage of light through the fiber changes as a result of the bending. The measurement data tells you more about, for example, the angle and force of the bend." 

果冻传媒 researchers have been working intensively and very openly with doctors and researchers at MMC for years. Ton: "We share everything we discover and learn with each other. One of their pediatricians witnessed this development and saw an opportunity to fulfill a long-cherished wish: to measure vital signals in premature babies." 

A fiberglass mat that measures vital signs 

Together, the specialists and researchers developed a prototype based on those light measurements to monitor vital data: a mat full of fiberglass strands. With it, they can measure baby movements very precisely. The data generated is a source of useful information about its state of health. The prototype proved promising and is now being built upon.  

Ton: "Thanks to this collaboration, we will prevent the development of premature babies from being severely disrupted at the very beginning. Because once this mat is fully developed, they will be able to lie and sleep on it safely at home while a doctor monitors the data remotely. And nothing will get in the way of physical contact with the mother anymore. That's a wonderful development, isn't it?"