Home Department: Human Biology
Mentor: David K. Stevenson, Pediatrics (Neonatal & Developmental Medicine)

“A Novel Point-Of-Care Device for Measuring Total Bilirubin in Infants at Risk for Newborn Jaundice”

Jaundice, which is caused by the accumulation of the pigment bilirubin, commonly occurs in newborn infants during the first week of life. Infants who are not treated in a timely manner may develop bilirubin neurotoxicity, eventually leading to long-term motor deficits and hearing loss. Mohammad will be evaluating a prototypical point-of-care device called FINDER, interpreting blood assays that measure relative bilirubin levels and then creating data plots to gain insight into the accuracy of FINDER as a screening tool for identifying infants who are at-risk for bilirubin neurotoxicity.