March 26th was “Purple Day”, the international day for epilepsy. Purple Day is dedicated to raising awareness, which is the first step in making a difference to the lives of people affected by epilepsy. Kvikna took part in Purple Day by inviting guest speakers Ágúst Hilmarsson, neurologist from the National University Hospital of Iceland, and Brynhildur Arthúrsdóttir, Chairman of LAUF, an Icelandic association for people affected by epilepsy, to our offices. Our own Sjöfn Kjartansdóttir followed up their talks with a demonstration on how to ensure the safety of someone who is having a seizure. This program was quite the eye opener for us, and despite the fact that many of us have worked designing software to diagnose epilepsy for years, we all learned something new.

Kvikna Medical is proud to be part of the PETITE Study, a multi-center study to evaluate the pharmacokinetics, efficacy and safety of Brivaracetam in Neonates with repeated electroencephalographic seizures after stressful and complicated deliveries.

As stated in the study information leaflet: “Some babies with HIE can have seizures (fits of convulsions) in the first one to three days after birth. A baby who has neonatal seizures may need several different medicines to control these seizures. The babies with short seizures, which can be stopped quickly using medication, seem to do better.” Kvikna Medical is therefore very proud and happy to be part of this important study.

The study is sponsored by UCB Biopharma SPRL and the goal is to try to find improved ways of treating neonatal seizures. The PETITE study is taking place in many hospitals all over Europe and Kvikna Medical provides EEG recording devices and a dedicated PETITE cloud service for the expert evaluation and monitoring of the babies brains throughout the study.

Kvikna is proud to be part of the INFANS project, which is part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme.

The goal of INFANS is to develop a new neonatal brain monitoring system, designed to overcome the severe shortage of a clinically viable means to monitor the brain function in infancy, which is crucial to prevent later life neurological, cognitive and motor impairment. To accomplish this goal, INFANS established a structured European PhD training programme in biomedical engineering, signal processing and clinical procedures to train a new generation of creative and entrepreneurial young researchers.

As part of this program, 15 open PhD positions are available, one of which will be located in Iceland. For information about applying for this position, follow this link.

For more information about the INFANS project, see their website.