Northwell Health https://www.northwell.edu held an Innovation Challenge, a system-wide call to all employees to present new ideas. NeuroGuard a bioelectronic device, won the award for the device developed by Chad Bouton Director of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research’s Center for Bioelectronic Medicine and Mohamed Ahmed MD, PhD, Neonatal Perinatal Research Director at the Feinstein Institute http://www.feinsteininstitute.org.
NeuroGuard, a bioelectronic device to be used to reduce premature births can be worn like a belt around the stomach of a mother-to-be. The device then delivers tiny electrical signals to naturally modulate neural pathways that are able to regulate uterine contractions.
“Preterm birth complications are the leading cause of death among children under the age of five”, said Dr. Ahmed. “With Northwell Health’s financial support, we hope to address preterm birth complications by studying our bioelectronic medicine device’s ability to naturally delay premature delivery.”
The Center for Bioelectronic Medicine at the Feinstein Institute in their Neurotechnology and Analytics Division headed by Chad Bouton also works with several labs to develop new ideas. For example, the Neural Bypass Lab within the division, is exploring ways to restore movement and sensory feedback in paralyzed study participants.
Researchers in the lab are also developing technology that decodes and re-routes signals from the brain to the muscles with applications to spinal cord injury, stroke, traumatic brain injury, and other neurological conditions.
The Pre-Clinical Lab within the Neurophysiology and Neuroscience Division is developing and testing novel in-house micro fabricated devices and innovative methodologies in pre-clinical models of disease.
The lab is also focusing on specific pre-clinical disease models such as inflammatory diseases. The researchers are using a variety of approaches including electrical, optical, and biosensing interfacing to further develop novel devices.