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Congratulations to Diploma in Bioengineering graduates Sneha and Ong Xin Min for clinching the Gold Award at the Biomedical Engineering (Singapore) 11th Scientific Meeting, 20th May 2017, on their work on a diagnostic system for Essential Tremor, titled ‘Advanced Material for Smart Biomedical Applications’.
Essential Tremor (ET) is a neurological disorder that is characterized by uncontrolled shaking or tremors on different parts of the body. This disorder can develop at any age and becomes increasingly common with advancing age. Currently, there are no medical tests to confirm the diagnosis of ET, other than taking a neurological evaluation. A diagnostic system that is able to provide more insight into patient condition is needed to prevent misdiagnoses at earlier stages of this disease.
Their prototype of an Essential Tremor (ET) diagnostic system uses sensors that can determine the intensity of essential tremor, was fabricated and characterized. The system was able to detect the movement of the user at different frequency levels. Furthermore, the system is also able to detect tactile feedback. This feature gives this system a competitive edge over other competitive technologies, such as Leap Motion used in commercially available diagnostic systems. It is hoped that the data collected from both movement and tactile feedback will be able to provide more insight into a patient's condition. This can help to minimise misdiagnoses between ET and other illnesses with similar symptom such as Parkinson's disease.
This project was under the supervision of Dr Ngoh Shwu Lan, with close collaboration with Professor Lim Chwee Teck from Department of Biomedical Engineering & Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore.
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