b'Partner News Summer 2020 19EnterpriseAssisting atThe Gambia in which a research technician records short video clips of the foetal brain, which are sent back to us for analysis. We believe we can use machine-learning the birth techniques to analyse these videos to determine gestational age, but we need to assess how accurately we can do this and also investigate the usability of the device in the field, she adds. We already had an algorithm that allowed us to take a digital video recording using the ultrasound probe, but OCCs expertise in presenting the method as a display on a OCC is working with Oxford researchers to createNotebook device for a non-expert user an inexpensive tool for measuring gestational age,was an essential part of the project. Our role was to create an app for the reports freelance science journalist Sally Croft. TraCer study that could gather data, allow the user to check the video was of good enough quality and then store and upload that information for analysis in the UK, Modern maternity care relies heavily onThis particular project is funded by the knowing the gestational age of a foetusUK governments Global Challenges when it comes to making decisionsResearch Fund as part of the PRECISE about when to intervene to reducenetwork initiative, which seeks to build obstetric complications, deliver the babyindividual and institutional research or prevent stillbirth. In the Westerncapacity across Africa and the UK throughOCCs Innovation Delivery world, sonographers use high-precisiona shared pregnancy research programme. Team is expert at ultrasound scans in the first trimester oftransforming research pregnancy to estimate gestational ageIn the TraCer project were seeking to and subsequently use this informationuse just a low-cost ultrasound probesoftware into commercial to help monitor foetal health.and a tablet computer to measure theapplications.TransCerebellar diameter, a structure By contrast, in most lower-middle- in the foetal brain which changes with income countries women do not havegestational age, explains Professor Noble. this early scan and trained sonographersThis is a reliable parameter but its small with high-resolution equipment areand difficult to measure. Were currently sparse, presenting difficulties treatingcarrying out a research study in Kenya and women who are uncertain aboutsays Rachael Bartholomew, OCCs Head the stage of their pregnancy. of Client Services. It was important to store but not show the data to the user Oxford Computer Consultants (OCC), anbecause in some countries its illegal to use IET Enterprise Partner, has been workingultrasound for foetal gender identification. with researchers at the University of Oxford to create and trial an inexpensiveOCCs Innovation Delivery Team is handheld device that could be used inexpert at transforming research software the field by non-experts to acquire shortinto commercial applications, so we ultrasound video clips of the foetal brain;employed our user research skills and these will allow computer-led analysis backour understanding of how to make in the UK to determine gestational age. something accessible to a non-expert operator, together with our technical The Oxford University team, which isproficiency in imaging, in order to co-led by Alison Noble, Technikos Professordesign with the researchers a prototype of Biomedical Engineering, and Arissystem for clinical evaluation. Papageorghiou, Associate Professor of Fetal Medicine, is seeking to developWere now in phase 2 of the project, next-generation ultrasound systems thatmaking improvements based on initial use machine learning to tackle unmetuser feedback and scrutinising the clinical needs in the developing world.quality of the video images.'