BiliHUG: Wearable phototherapy device for home treatment of newborn jaundice

60% of full-term babies and 80% of premature babies are diagnosed with jaundice and of these around 20% require treatment. This equates to approximately 16.8 million babies each year worldwide. 

Jaundice is caused by a build-up of bilirubin in the blood and is typically treated with blue light phototherapy in hospital, to break down bilirubin into an excretable form. This treatment disrupts family bonding, breastfeeding, and interaction at a critical stage of development for newborn babies. The biliHUG offers a new and unique solution, optimising treatment efficacy and user experience whilst promoting bonding and interaction. biliHUG will relieve demand on hospitals, unobtrusively facilitating treatment in the home environment. The wearable baby grow bag design, incorporates flexible fibre optic technology. LEDs with a wavelength of 478nm are integrated into the coupling connector, the wavelength scientifically proven to be most efficient. The product complies with safety regulations and the addition of an app interface facilitates remote monitoring and communication between hospital and home ensuring a seamless treatment journey.

 I am passionate about designing and engineering innovative ideas and solutions to improve people’s lives, embracing the fusion between creativity and technology. I enjoy the challenge of problem solving and the process of bringing creations to life, developing them from brainstorm concepts on paper, through CAD models and prototypes, to real, tangible finished products. The design process is an evolution, combining form and function through every iteration to create beautiful purposeful solutions.

I enjoy working collaboratively, sharing ideas, receiving, and providing feedback to others. The camaraderie of my PDE cohort has been amazing over the last five years and has helped shape me into the design engineer I am today, learning and preparing me for what I hope is an exciting future career.

Throughout my final year project I explored the use of blue light phototherapy to treat babies diagnosed with Jaundice. It was important for me to immerse myself into the hospital environment and understand the pain points and struggles which make this process so difficult for families and the NHS at the moment.

Ellie.kate.thomson@gmail.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellie-k-thomson/