Brainwave tool to spot childhood epilepsy earlier | Usher Institute

Children with epilepsy could benefit from The University of Edinburgh’s pioneering research that aims to make it quicker and easier to diagnose the condition.

Photograph of parent hugging their toddler child visiting a doctor

A £2m project is developing a simple, portable brain-monitoring tool to detect epilepsy in children – including severe forms such as infantile spasms – much earlier.

Currently, children with suspected epilepsy – which affects more than 50m people globally – often face lengthy waits and multiple hospital stays for specialist tests. The new technology could allow clinicians to monitor brain activity in community clinics or patients’ homes, reducing stress for families and improving access to care.

Faster diagnosis

Working closely with families and clinicians, the team is developing technology that uses brainwave readings and AI to detect seizures earlier than current practice and track responses to treatment. This could speed up access to treatment and ensure more equitable care for children across Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Our project addresses a major healthcare need raised by families and patient organisations: the need for a fair and equitable solution for personalised early diagnosis, monitoring and prediction of response to treatment in childhood epilepsies. I really look forward to co-developing this digital solution with the community, for the community.

Collaborative research

The project involves researchers from the School of Engineering, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, Usher Institute and NHS Lothian, alongside charities including the UK Infantile Spasms Trust, Epilepsy Scotland and Epilepsy Research Institute UK.

Edinburgh Innovations, the University’s commercialisation service, will support development of the technology, with initial commercialisation funding having been provided by the Bayes Centre and EPSRC’s Harmonised Impact Acceleration Account.

Usher’s contribution

Within this collaboration, the Usher Institute plays a central role. Milly Lo – Scotland’s only paediatric intensive care consultant leading an internationally recognised research programme – will lead the workpackage on future expansion and dissemination of EPIC. Laura Smith, who has successfully established and now leads the UK’s first paediatric critical care PPIE group, Intensive-Share, will lead PPIE activities embedded across the full programme.

The research is led by Javier Escudero and colleagues in the School of Engineering, and is strengthened by their co-location in the Usher Building as part of the CHAI Hub (Causality in Healthcare AI Hub). Being situated within Edinburgh BioQuarter – alongside the Usher Institute, the University’s Department of Child Life and Health, and the Royal Hospital for Children and Young People – enables the kind of interdisciplinary collaboration between engineers, clinicians, patients and families that makes this work possible.

Improved outcomes

The work is one of six new projects funded by the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Each aims to support earlier diagnosis, ease pressure on hospitals and improve patient outcomes across a range of conditions including asthma, dementia and musculoskeletal disorders.

Diagnosing health conditions early and in a way that works for people’s everyday lives is vital. This project will bring engineering and health expertise together with the experiences of patients and communities to develop practical, real-world tools that support the NHS Long Term Plan. By enabling care closer to home as well as earlier intervention, they will help shift the system from treatment to prevention, improve outcomes, tackle health inequalities, and ease pressure on hospitals.