PhD candidate Abdelrahman (Sammy) Abdou working to collect a baby’s heart rate faster
The first minute of a baby’s life is called the “Golden Minute.” In those 60 seconds, if the newborn hasn’t yet started breathing, intervention should be done to save their life.
With these time constraints in mind, FEAS PhD candidate Abdelrahman (Sammy) Abdou describes the three standard methods to check a neonate’s heart rate. The first method is with a stethoscope, where the health care provider will count the number of beats in a particular time frame, all while in the hectic nature of the delivery room. The second way is using a pulse oximeter. However, newborns often lack fully developed veins, which leads to less blood flow around the hands and feet, making it more challenging to get a good heart rate signal. The final method uses an ECG by putting electrodes on the baby’s chest, taking about 30 seconds. It can then take another 30 seconds to get a signal, and by then, the Golden Minute is up.
That’s why Abdou and Dr. Sri Krishnan are working together with clinician collaborators to create the Vitascope. This wearable medical device can collect a baby’s heart rate faster and more accurately than any of the first three methods. The engineers are also looking to make this device accessible and affordable for a variety of healthcare settings. Currently, the team is pursuing device validation and IP protection of the prototype they’re developing in the lab.
“My PhD is a mixture of research, industry, and entrepreneurship,” said Abdou. “At most universities, the most important part of the PhD is the research, and you’ll publish a few papers on it. But, through Dr. Krishnan’s lab, we’re able to take real industry problems and clinical needs, and apply our research to it and create a solution.”
With his innovative and entrepreneurial mind, the biomedical engineer admitted that he originally wanted to follow in his parent’s footsteps and pursue a career in medicine.
“My parents actually told me not to do it—they said to avoid it if I want to have a life. But, I really wanted to do medicine, and so I moved to Toronto in 2011 and decided to study biomedical engineering because I thought it was the closest thing to medicine,” said Abdou
However, after completing his undergraduate degree, Abdou found himself working on his master’s with Dr. Krishnan, which led to pursuing his PhD studies today. Fuelled by his passion for helping people, Abdou describes how his love for biomedical engineering has allowed him to positively impact an entire community of people that might be struggling with a particular issue.
“What got me interested in biomedical engineering is that you’re developing technologies that will save lives. It doesn’t have to be today, but the best thing about the work you’re doing is that it will impact other people,” said Abdou. “Whatever algorithms or technology we’re developing, you’re not just reaching one person, but you can be saving an entire group of people if it’s being used the correct way.”
“It’s just the simple idea of using technology to save someone’s life that makes me love biomedical engineering. It doesn’t have to be radical, but it can be technology that can help people.”
