UCalgary engineering students create neuromonitoring device for children on life-support

A team of Schulich School of Engineering students has set out to address a serious health complication for children needing life-support.

After learning that approximately one in three children on life-support suffer a stroke, the group undertook a journey to help what, they say, is an overlooked and underserved population of paediatric and neonatal patients.

They started NeuraSense, an entrepreneurial venture providing a continuous stroke-monitoring system for children.

“Our solution is composed of three components which have been optimized for the complex life-support environment: a wearable headset, an algorithm, and an application,” says team member and recent graduate Lily Gentile, BSc (Eng)’25. 

“We wanted to emphasize interpretability throughout all components of our project to ensure doctors can take action immediately, especially in settings where every second counts.”

What started as a capstone project at April’s 2025 Engineering Design Fair won the students an award. They received a runner-up award at the Liftoff! Pitch Competition and victory at the TC Energy Ingenuity Pitch Competition at Inventures.

Diverse interests positively impact health care 

Gentile – along with fellow students (and also recent grads) Shekinah (Yna) Arpon, Fionna Dela Cruz and Tania Rizwan, all BSc (Eng)’25, and Christine Dowling, BComm’09, BSc (Eng)’25 – says the journey started as they were picking their capstone project.

They wanted to find something in the entrepreneurial stream that would incorporate their diverse interests and skills while also having a positive impact on health care.

After speaking with Cumming School of Medicine researchers about their idea, the team started working on it with the help of their Schulich advisors.

Arpon says the headset continuously records blood oxygenation and electrical signals in the brain.

“Our customized algorithm is then used to process these signals and detects any irregularities and asymmetries between the two hemispheres of the brain,” adds Dowling. 

Arpon says the application visualizes brain signals in real-time, after which it, “analyzes them with the algorithm and displays the algorithm outputs and stroke risk through an intuitive interface built for clinicians.”

The team received encouraging feedback and product validation from doctors and nurses, and Dowling says everyone has been open to the innovation and willing to try new solutions for improving patient outcomes.

Feedback sparks excitement for next steps

Dela Cruz says winning awards and recognitions at different competitions underscores the impact of the project.

“After eight months of dedicated effort, seeing everything come together and receiving such positive feedback has been incredibly rewarding,” she says. “The traction we gained and the quality of conversations we have had – with both academic and industry professionals – have energized us and sparked real excitement about the next steps.”

Rizwan says it’s not lost on them that their achievements have been achieved as an all-women team. “Accomplishing this in a field where it’s still relatively rare has made this experience even more special,” she says. 

“It felt like we weren’t just building something valuable, but we were also quietly challenging expectations and showing what’s possible.”

The team is now actively exploring additional funding avenues and future pitch opportunities as they develop NeuraSense further, post-graduation.