Bioengineer’s goal is to save lives of newborns
A University of Texas at Arlington bioengineering professor is collaborating with a clinical translational intensivist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center to determine when brain swelling in neonatal newborns is in danger of occurring.
Hanli Liu, a UT Arlington bioengineering professor, is working on a mathematical analysis that can help determine when a baby is at risk of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), which is damage that occurs when oxygen or blood flow to the brain is reduced or stopped at birth. HIE can cause cerebral palsy, intellectual disabilities, behavioral disorders, hearing impairments, visual disabilities, speech disorders, motor deficits, developmental disabilities and seizure disorders.
The National Institutes of Health funded the project with a $580,000 grant that flows through UT Southwestern. Dr. Lina Chalak, professor of pediatrics and psychiatry and interim chief of the Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at UT Southwestern, is principal investigator. Chalak is founder and medical director of the Fetal Neonatal Neurology Program at UT Southwestern.
“The brains of babies are very fragile and change dynamically at this time,” said Lui, who holds the College of Engineering Board of Advisors Endowed Professorship. “If doctors can protect the little brains of those babies who need treatment, they recover. If not treated on time, the babies can sustain permanent brain damage. However, we aren’t sure right now which babies can recover and which ones can’t. That’s what we’re after, acquiring that information that shows which babies are in trouble,” Liu said.
Liu described her research as a novel engineering approach, based on time-frequency analysis, to look at how neuronal activity interacts with oxygen molecules in the blood of the brain at various times. Any inactive interaction between them gives a forecast of brain malfunctions and potential damage.
Treatment strategies depend on the severity of the condition, the timing of intervention and the individual situations of each baby, Chalak said.
Liu equated detecting HIE early to detecting COVID or cancer early. Early treatments lead to more effective outcomes.
“But if we wait until the early or mild stage progresses to a moderate or severe stage of HIE,” she said, “then it’s more problematic to reverse the damage to the brain, leaving life-long damage to those with delayed treatment.”
Liu has worked with Chalak, a physician-scientist whose research is focused on improving outcomes of the neonatal brain with HIE, on this project since 2017. This just-funded NIH grant is a competitive renewal of the one in 2017.
“We have had a very successful collaboration with excellent UTA bioengineering students working closely with my clinical team, leading to the success of another five-year NIH funding,” Chalak said.
Michael Cho, the Alfred R. Potvin and Janet H. Potvin Endowed Chair in Bioengineering, said Liu’s alliance with UT Southwestern and Chalak’s project shows a perfect example of how bioengineers help medical professionals develop improved medical devices or methodologies for prompt and efficient treatments.
“The project could save newborns’ lives,” Cho said, “and the heartache that such sickness brings the babies’ family members and friends.”