NovaUCD Innovation Award winner, Dr Conor Heneghan
The NovaUCD 2006 Innovation Award was recently presented to Dr Conor Heneghan, co-founder of the UCD spin-off company BiancaMed, which targets the fast-growing home-health sector. Presented by UCD President, Dr Hugh Brady, the award recognises Dr Heneghan’s success in the commercialisation of research undertaken at UCD’s School of Electrical, Electronic and Mechanical Engineering. BiancaMed has raised $400,000 in funding and has secured deals with leading US companies, Del Mar Reynolds Medical and ResMed.
Located in NovaUCD, the Innovation and Technology Transfer Centre at UCD, BiancaMed is currently developing a product which will allow ultra-convenient heart and respiration monitoring in the home for people suffering from chronic conditions such as heart failure, respiratory disease, and diabetes. The device can be integrated with state-of-the-art telecommunications allowing a person and their healthcare team to use mobile phone, broadband, or wireless communications.
In 2005 BiancaMed’s screening technology, which it had licensed to US-based Del Mar Reynolds Medical to develop the LifeScreen ApneaTM product, secured Food and Drug Administration clearance enabling it to be marketed in the United States. LifeScreen ApneaTM has already been used by leading physicians in Argentina, Ireland, UK and US, enabling them to screen for obstructive sleep apnea using only the overnight recordings of a patient’s cardiac signals recorded at home. Sleep apnea is a condition in which the breathing of an individual is interrupted while asleep. It can lead to daytime sleepiness, fatigue, and is a risk factor for serious heart disease.
For further information contact:
Micéal Whelan, NovaUCD, tel: (01) 716 3712,
e-mail: miceal.whelan@ucd.ie.
