There is an increasing need to assess the neurological status and brain development of the neonates since today more and more pre- and full-term babies with possible neurological disorders survive. This Phase I research will evaluate the feasibility of developing a new non-invasive magnetoencephalography (MEG) sensor, called a babySQUID, capable of measuring spontaneous and evoked electrical activity of the cortex of the neonates without signal averaging. MEG signals are transparent to the skull and scalp, thus unlike electroencephalographic (EEG) signals they are not distorted by the skull and fontanels. The special sensor design will provide an increase in sensitivity by one order of magnitude and in spatial resolution by a factor of four compared to the existing MEG sensors. The design is similar to a sensor called a micro SQUID capable of measuring unaveraged cortical evoked responses from the swine, but eliminates its two critical shortcomings - a small number of channels and a small coverage area - that limit its practical use for neonatal assessment. This Phase I will: (l) test the safety of building a honey-comb shaped cryogenic tail section with a thin wall (approximately l .5 mm) that can house 76 channels to cover a wide area of the scalp; (2) demonstrate that a 4-channel unit of the sensor array can be built with 5 times lower noise level than the microSQUlD; and (3) collect preliminary data from neonates using the microSQUlD to help optimize the prototype to be built during Phase II.
The babySQUID to be developed during the commercialization stage (Phase ill) is expected to become a new non-invasive neurodiagnostic tool complementing EEG in assessing possible neurological dysfunctions and brain development in neonates through its unique capability to detect electrophysiological functions in focal areas of the cortex in real time without signal averaging.
