{"id":455358,"date":"2023-08-18T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=455358"},"modified":"2023-08-18T06:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T04:30:00","slug":"sencilias-life-saving-technology-sensors-that-improve-fluid-dosage-in-critical-care-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/sencilias-life-saving-technology-sensors-that-improve-fluid-dosage-in-critical-care-patients\/","title":{"rendered":"Sencilia\u2019s life-saving technology: Sensors that improve fluid dosage in critical care patients"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The contemporary healthcare arena thrives at the crossroads of precision and urgency. Intravenous (IV) therapy is a quick and efficient way of administering drugs, nutrients, and other fluids into a patient\u2019s bloodstream through veins. However,there are several risks attached to this method. Flow rate errors in IV infusions tend to occur much more frequently than expected. These instabilities or variations in the flow rate may result in the under or over-dosage of drugs and can cause neurodevelopmental disorders in babies and even death in extreme cases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sencilia<\/a>, a Groningen-based start-up is developing an IV flow monitoring system with the aim of reducing these intravenous dosage errors and improving the accuracy of fluid balance. They are developing a sensor that is very small in size and can be very sensitive to extremely low flow rates characteristic of IV infusions in critical care.The sensors are easy to embed into existing infusion equipment without affecting existing clinical workflows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this installment of the start-up of the day series<\/a>, Sencilia co-founder and Managing Director Amar M. Kamat tells us more about the technology.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
Sencilia is the winner of the Draper Pitch Prize Competition finals, held at the High Tech Campus Eindhoven.<\/div>
CEO Amar Kamat won a ticket to the five-week Draper University Hero Training program in San Mateo, California. IO was at the event.<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

What exactly does <\/strong>Sencilia do<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are a MedTech startup company that was spun out from the University of Groningen. We have expertise in micro and nanofabrication and develop MEMS flow-sensing technology to address the problem of detecting flow instability, such as those in IV (intravenous) infusions. IV infusions are the primary means of administering drugs to patients, especially neonatal patients. We find that over 60% of IV infusions actually suffer from a flow rate error which means that more than half the time, the drug that is supposed to go at a certain dosage rate into the baby is actually going at a different rate than intended, so these instabilities or these variations or these errors can cause over or under dosage in these babies that can cause severe harm. It can cause serious clinical consequences such as neurodevelopmental impairments and even death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We, at Sencilia, develop flow sensors using a technology that was developed in collaboration with the University of Groningen to solve these issues. Our sensors are very small and sensitive to the low flow rates characteristic of IV infusions, which means that we can embed these sensors into the existing infusion tubing. The idea is that whenever there is a flow error or flow discrepancy, we can alert the doctor or the nurse immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
Medical technology secures the future of healthcare<\/div>
From an artificial pancreas to needle-free injections, medical technology makes healthcare more efficient and allows people to live healthier, longer lives. The use of technology … Continued<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

How did you come up with this idea?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was a postdoc in Prof. Dr. Ajay Kottapalli\u2019s Bioinspired MEMS and Biomedical Devices (BMBD) group in Groningen, where I worked on the development of\u00a0nature-inspired\u00a0flow\u00a0sensors\u00a0with Ajay (scientific founder of Sencilia). These\u00a0sensors\u00a0are\u00a0inspired by fish\u00a0neuromasts\u00a0or seal\u00a0whiskers.\u00a0So,\u00a0Ajay and I\u00a0talked to a lot of people at the\u00a0University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG)\u00a0regarding the\u00a0clinical\u00a0problems that we can\u00a0address\u00a0using these sensors.\u00a0There, we found that problems pertaining to\u00a0IV infusion and especially the flow\u00a0variability\u00a0in\u00a0IV infusions kept coming up.\u00a0We did a lot of literature\u00a0review\u00a0and\u00a0talked\u00a0to\u00a0the important stakeholders including doctors, nurses IV infusion system manufacturers, hospital purchasing departments, etc.\u00a0They all confirmed that\u00a0flow rate error\u00a0is a serious problem that needs a solution.\u00a0Regulatory bodies such as the US Food and Drug Administration\u00a0(FDA) have also\u00a0stated that\u00a0these\u00a0flow variations\u00a0are\u00a0very harmful to babies and any kind of solution towards this would be beneficial.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What other problems can be solved using these bio-sensors?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust in the medical line,\u00a0we are targeting other applications as well, but that’s kind of in the far future. We can use this device for anything that requires flow measurements like mechanical ventilation,\u00a0insulin delivery, or even\u00a0urine output drainage monitoring.\u00a0There are many applications within the biomedical domain.\u00a0We can also target applications that are outside the domain.\u00a0The sensors were originally designed by Ajay\u00a0(during his doctoral and postdoctoral research at MIT)\u00a0for\u00a0the\u00a0measurement of underwater flow.\u00a0So, these\u00a0sensors can be put on a submarine to measure\u00a0underwater\u00a0flows just as a seal does underwater or just as a fish does. These sensors can be used anywhere,\u00a0where there is a need for a disposable,\u00a0easy-to-use accurate\u00a0low-cost\u00a0sensor. These are a few places\u00a0where we see\u00a0us applying our sensors but right now our\u00a0focus is on IV\u00a0infusion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
Detecting brain injuries in no time with this WUR student team’s biosensor\u00a0<\/div>
Every year, around 50 million people worldwide are affected by traumatic brain injury. They end up in the emergency room or hospital, but often little … Continued<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

How far have you come with the product?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are in an early phase\u00a0right now.\u00a0We have already\u00a0demonstrated the proof of concept\u00a0in preclinical studies\u00a0and\u00a0are in the prototype iteration stage.\u00a0Right now,\u00a0we are preparing for\u00a0our\u00a0first-in-human study\u00a0planned for early 2025.\u00a0The plan is\u00a0to test the sensors on\u00a0real patients and\u00a0get clinical data. Our team is\u00a0doing a lot of\u00a0technology development, and\u00a0pre-clinical validation,\u00a0as well as\u00a0ramping up our\u00a0quality and regulatory activities.\u00a0We are\u00a0also talking to a lot of doctors and nurses to get end-user insights. The idea is that we foresee us launching\u00a0the product\u00a0in early 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What <\/strong>are the challenges <\/strong>that you are facing<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, I mean\u00a0there are some challenges that are always common to all startups,\u00a0especially with medical device startups. The regulatory\u00a0process\u00a0guided by medical device regulations (MDR) is quite lengthy in\u00a0Europe. Getting your device certified in time has become quite challenging\u00a0because the notified bodies are\u00a0very\u00a0busy. I think funding\u00a0is always a challenge for all startups but especially for medical device startups because our time to market is so long\u00a0and hardware\/software startups like ours tend to be capital-intensive.\u00a0We are always engaged in applying to\u00a0subsidies\/grants and\u00a0talking to investors and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/a>
<\/div><\/div>
Start-up of the day<\/div>
Spread all over Europe, thousands of young companies are working hard every day to make our world a lot better tomorrow. It is precisely from these small companies that the most surprising and\u2026<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

What<\/strong>\u2019s the next step for Sencilia?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight now,\u00a0we are actively working towards preparing for our first-in-human\u00a0study, which is a very basic\u00a0and initial clinical trial to gather some clinical data.\u00a0We are\u00a0also\u00a0in the midst of\u00a0raising our seed\u00a0funding\u00a0round.\u00a0We won a couple of grants recently, from the Dutch Research Council and the European Regional Development Funds,\u00a0which allow\u00a0us to carry\u00a0out\u00a0our\u00a0activities\u00a0for now.\u00a0We will also raise seed investment early next year to advance our technology readiness level (TRL) and progress on the technology, business, regulatory, and clinical aspects of our venture.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The contemporary healthcare arena thrives at the crossroads of precision and urgency. Intravenous (IV) therapy is a quick and efficient way of administering drugs, nutrients, and other fluids into a patient\u2019s bloodstream through veins. However,there are several risks attached to this method. Flow rate errors in IV infusions tend to occur much more frequently than expected. These instabilities or variations in the flow rate may result […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2591,"featured_media":494770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"views\/single-startup.blade.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3009],"tags":[47251,61092,35348],"location":[66582,6763],"article_type":[6758],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[],"class_list":["post-455358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-startup","tag-healthcare-innovation","tag-healthtech","tag-start-up-of-the-day","location-europe","location-netherlands","article_type-interview"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"Sencilia\u00a0is developing\u00a0a\u00a0flow management\u00a0system\u00a0to reduce intravenous dosage errors\u00a0and improve the accuracy of fluid balance\u00a0during IV infusions.","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Shwet Parag","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/shwet-parag\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/pexels-furkan-i\u0307nce-7563010.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Start-ups<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Start-ups<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["healthcare innovation<\/a>","Healthtech<\/a>","Start-up of the day<\/a>"],"unlinked":["healthcare innovation<\/span>","Healthtech<\/span>","Start-up of the day<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on August 18, 2023","modified":"Updated on August 18, 2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on August 18, 2023 6:30 am","modified":"Updated on August 18, 2023 6:30 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2591"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455358"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=455358"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=455358"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=455358"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=455358"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=455358"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=455358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}