Kevin Krieger wins the Engineers Ireland Biomedical Research Medal

Group Member Kevin Krieger has won the 2021 Engineers Ireland Biomedical Research Medal competition. This prestigious medal and €1,500 honorarium, sponsored by DePuy Synthes, is awarded annually to the best PhD-level biomedical engineering researcher in Ireland. The winner is selected by a panel of experts from academia and industry based on a submitted research paper and presentation on their work. The event is normally held at the Annual Conference of the Section of Bioengineering of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland, which had to be moved online this year.

Kevin’s winning work “Wearable biosignal sensors using microneedle technology” concerned the development and evaluation of a novel microneedle-based surface electrode platform for surface EMG measurement. With the rise of home healthcare, ambulatory monitoring and associated wearable technology, a need for new sensing devices exists which can be easily applied without the need for professionals, and that enable high-quality measurements during day-to-day activities and long-term wear. While explored for use in surface EMG measurement, the technology can be applied to a wide range of other biosignal applications including electrocardiography (ECG) and electroencephalography (EEG). Furthermore, the 3D-printing-based fabrication methods developed open up new horizons in microneedle design and fabrication for non-invasive wearable sensors as well as microneedle array applications in general.

The research was funded by the (opens in a new window)Irish Research Council Postgraduate Research Scholarship, (opens in a new window)NUI Travelling Doctoral Studentship, (opens in a new window)Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship, and (opens in a new window)Science Foundation Ireland.