Biomedical engineer secures €600,000 Enterprise Ireland funding to develop respiratory sensor

Posted on: 28 January 2025

Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund provides funding for two years and allows third-level researchers to translate their research into innovative and commercially viable products. The funding will allow the team to complete key technical and commercial outcomes.

Failure to detect and treat respiratory compromise – associated with increased hospital length-of-stay, costs and mortality risk – results in significant human and economic impact. Currently, there is no continuous, non-invasive monitoring solution for both respiratory rate and volume, which are essential measures for accurate monitoring and early detection.

The proposed solution, the Ribbon device, aims to monitor both rate and volume continuously for the first time. It has the potential to eliminate delayed diagnosis of respiratory compromise, enabling earlier intervention for better patient outcomes, and at lower costs to hospital healthcare systems.

Dr Hayden, a postdoctoral research fellow currently involved with the research project PrecisionALS, said: “I’m immensely grateful to Enterprise Ireland for awarding me a Commercialisation Fund. This is a significant personal milestone, which couldn’t have been achieved without the support of my mentors in Trinity’s Schools of Medicine and Engineering, the PrecisionALS team and the Trinity Technology Transfer Office.

“The Ribbon device has its genesis in my PhD work, which focused on developing objective outcome measures for people living with Motor Neurone Disease. I am excited to move forward with the development of the Ribbon device, which has the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes through early, accurate diagnosis of respiratory decline, enabling timely intervention.”

Dr Hayden will lead the technical side of the project. He has previous experience in medical device design with the development of Index-eTap, a novel device for objective measure of hand dexterity, which has been successfully deployed in a longitudinal clinical study.

Additional advice will be provided by Professor Bruce Murphy and Dr Dara Meldrum, both of whom have previously led successful commercialisation projects in the medical device space. Clinical advice will be provided by Dr Deirdre Murray, a specialist physiotherapist. and Prof. Ignacio Martin-Loeches, a consultant in intensive care medicine at St James's Hospital, Dublin.

Dara Meldrum, Associate Professor in Trinity’s School of Medicine and founder of Vertigenius, said: “Receiving a commercialisation grant is a remarkable achievement that will empower Dr Hayden to transform his research into an innovative solution, addressing the critical unmet healthcare need of respiratory monitoring.”

Bruce Murphy, Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering in Trinity’s School of Engineering, and a serial inventor, said: “It’s fantastic to see Conor advance his PhD work into an Enterprise Ireland commercially focused development program. The work will potentially benefit patients globally, by eliminating the cascade of adverse events associated with respiratory failure.”

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