UNC Charlotte to lead pioneering ARPA-H-funded project developing next-generation placental ultrasound technology to advance prenatal care

CHARLOTTE  — UNC Charlotte is leading a groundbreaking initiative funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to advance the Quantitative Ultrasound for Placental Evaluations, a point-of-care ultrasound solution designed to assess fetal hypoxia risk and transform prenatal care. In collaboration with the University of British Columbia, Sonus Microsystems, Atrium Health and Oregon Health & Science University, the project is a part of ARPA-H’s Making Obstetrics Care Smart program. MOCS aims to develop objective, scalable tools to modernize labor and delivery monitoring technologies that have remained largely unchanged for decades. 

As part of this effort, QUS-P focuses on the placenta to detect risks of fetal oxygen deprivation. By providing a standardized, ultrasound-based approach to placental health assessment, this technology has the potential to improve pregnancy outcomes, streamline labor and delivery workflows for clinical teams and expand access to high-quality maternal care across diverse clinical settings.

The award of up to $8.4 million builds upon QUS-P, a pioneering technology coinvented by Farah Deeba, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at UNC Charlotte, and Robert Rohling, a professor at the University of British Columbia.

“Our goal is to bring quantitative ultrasound from the research setting into a practical tool that can support clinical decision-making during pregnancy and labor. QUS-P uses information from the placenta that is not available from conventional ultrasound images alone. Support from ARPA-H’s MOCS program gives us the opportunity to advance it toward an autonomous, point-of-care system that could help clinicians assess fetal hypoxia risk more objectively.” — Farah Deeba, principal investigator

“QUS-P grew out of years of collaborative work to make placental ultrasound more quantitative and clinically useful. This ARPA-H project gives us an important opportunity to advance that technology from research studies toward a practical point-of-care system that can support care teams during pregnancy and labor,” said Rohling. 

Unlike conventional ultrasound, which relies on qualitative imaging, QUS-P analyzes raw radiofrequency signals to produce objective, operator-independent measurements of placental tissue microstructure. In this next phase, UNC Charlotte will lead the development of QUS-P algorithms and artificial intelligence tools, which will be integrated with Sonus Microsystems’ autonomous, wearable ultrasound patch platform to support point-of-care assessment of placental health and fetal hypoxia risk. 

“Sonus is excited to contribute its wearable ultrasound patch platform to this effort. By combining autonomous ultrasound acquisition with QUS-P algorithms, the team has an opportunity to make placental assessment more accessible at the point of care,” said Hani Eskandari, president and chief executive officer, Sonus Microsystems.

UNC Charlotte will lead the technical side of the project, including advancement of QUS-P algorithms, and fetal hypoxia risk prediction models. The work will be carried out with a strong network of academic, clinical and industry partners: The University of British Columbia will provide Canadian clinical and research support; Sonus Microsystems will contribute its autonomous wearable ultrasound patch platform; Atrium Health will serve as the U.S. clinical partner, with the clinical work led by Dr. Julio Mateus Nino; and Oregon Health & Science University will provide placental biology expertise and physiological validation. 

“Intrapartum fetal hypoxia remains a critical challenge in obstetrics. We are thrilled to partner with UNC Charlotte and this exceptional team to bring these innovative quantitative biomarkers into clinical environments, ultimately helping our care teams make safer, more proactive delivery decisions for mothers and newborns,” said Mateus Nino, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist and clinical lead, Atrium Health. 

Expanding on the clinical need for these innovative tools, the project highlights why shifting focus to early organ function is a game-changer. 

Leslie Myatt, a professor at Oregon Health & Science University says, “The placenta is central to many pregnancy complications, including fetal hypoxia, yet we still have limited ways to assess placental function before clinical signs of distress appear. Quantitative ultrasound offers a promising way to evaluate placental tissue earlier and more objectively, which could help identify pregnancies that may need closer monitoring.” 

This research was, in part, funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the United States Government.

Written by: LaTarzja Henry

Image credit: Farah Deeba