Lauren Futami

Lauren Futami is a graduate student in mechanical engineering taking on the challenge of enabling early detection of necrotizing enterocolitis in neonates through novel optical sensing technology. Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a serious gastrointestinal illness affecting preterm infants, but current diagnostic methods often detect the disease only after significant intestinal damage has occurred. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) offers a non-invasive pathway to monitor tissue oxygenation continuously, yet commercially available devices prioritize adult cranial applications and are unsuitable for infant abdominal anatomy. Lauren has developed a custom neonatal abdominal NIRS apparatus that measures tissue oxygenation at multiple depths, distinguishing healthy intestinal tissue from low-oxygen states preceding NEC onset. Using MATLAB, she processes experimental data to validate measurements against blood gas analyses and develops real-time visualization tools for oxygenation mapping. As a MathWorks Fellow, Lauren will advance her computational framework toward deployment in clinical environments. Her work could establish foundations for practical, continuous neonatal monitoring systems that enable earlier intervention and improved patient outcomes.