The Edinburgh University project is developing a portable brain-monitoring tool that can detect seizures much earlier and closer to home.
A £1.99 million project at the University of Edinburgh and funded by UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), is developing a portable brain-monitoring tool that can detect seizures – including severe types such as infantile spasms – much earlier and closer to home.
“Our project addresses a major healthcare need raised by families and patient organisations: the need for a fair and equitable solution for personalised early diagnosis, monitoring and prediction of response to treatment in childhood epilepsies,” said Edinburgh University’s Javier Escudero who is leading the project.
The research is being carried out in partnership with NHS Lothian and organisations including the UK Infantile Spasms Trust, Epilepsy Scotland, BrainsView, UCB Pharma (UK), and the Epilepsy Research Institute UK, Newcastle University, and SYNGAP1 UK.
Preventative healthcare
The work is one of six new research projects funded through EPSRC that reflect a growing shift towards healthcare that is preventative. Each project is receiving up to £2 million to develop diagnostic tools that are simple and designed for everyday settings like GP surgeries, pharmacies, or even people’s homes.
The projects aim to tackle a range of conditions, including asthma, dementia, chemotherapy-related nerve damage and musculoskeletal disorders, with the shared goal of supporting earlier diagnosis, easing pressure on hospitals, and improving outcomes for patients.
The other projects being developed are a breathing test that could detect asthma and COPD earlier and be used in community settings; AI-powered eye scans to identify early signs of heart disease or dementia; a wearable brain monitor to support faster epilepsy diagnosis outside of hospital; a home-use nerve function test to help cancer patients manage chemotherapy side effects; and a portable scanner to detect early signs of musculoskeletal conditions, such as osteoporosis.
“Diagnosing health conditions early and in a way that works for people’s everyday lives is vital,” said Charlotte Deane, executive chair of EPSRC.
“By enabling care closer to home as well as earlier intervention, they will help shift the system from treatment to prevention, improve outcomes, tackle health inequalities, and ease pressure on hospitals,” she added.
