- This device can read your mind
and it might also be the world's most
advanced tool for diagnosing Alzheimer's.
It combines brain scanning EEG technology
with machine learning algorithms
to dramatically increase the effectiveness
and reduce the cost of early detection.
- Alright, demo take one, mark.
- And these are the guys who invented it.
- So look into the camera, right?
- Yeah, look right in the camera.
- Should I start talking or...
Hey I'm Dhruv.
- I'm Chris.
- They're sophomores at the University of Maryland.
- Music bend.
- And they're DIY scientists.
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- My name Dhruv Patel.
- My name is Christopher Look.
Dhruv and I met in high school.
We didn't really know each other too well back then.
- But we connected in college, our freshman year,
when we went to the same bioengineering society.
- We said why don't we try to form
a team and come up with an idea.
- Let's do something that's personally affected us before.
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- Alzheimer's is a neurodegenerative disease
and it's one of the most common causes of dementia.
It's truly a horrible disease.
- Your brain just starts to fail.
You start to lose parts that make you who you are,
all of the memories of your past.
It's not just the patient that's affected.
- My grandfather was actually diagnosed
with Alzheimer's at a very, a pretty early stage.
- My grandmother was taken from me by Alzheimer's
and so I wanted to tackle this problem head on.
- You know, seeing that first hand
really empowers me to do more research in the field
and reminds me of why I got in it in the first place.
- One of the biggest problems is diagnosis.
So right now the current Alzheimer's diagnosis,
it takes about one to two years,
maybe some $45,000 and it always happens too late.
- So we're developing a novel way
to detect the disease early on.
- The way we're doing this is using electroencehp--
Sorry, electroencephalogram technology.
It's essentially like a brain wave scanner.
What we're trying to do is combine that
with machine learning to diagnose Alzheimer's.
- Hi I'm Dhruv.
- I'm Chris.
- And this is our opensource portable
EEG headset from Open BCI that we use
to measure brainwave activity.
Here you'll see the electrodes
that are placed on the scalp of the brain,
which is then used to record the electrical
firings of neurons within the brain.
That data is then sent to a microprocessor
right here, which is then transmitted
to a computer via Bluetooth for further data analytics.
- And so the computer will take that EEG data,
it'll do some data processing, and then
will put into a machine learning algorithm.
That machine learning algorithm
has already learned the differences
in EEG readings from those who have
Alzheimer's and those who don't.
And then it will output a diagnosis
for the patient that is currently using this device.
- So once we had developed the machine learning
algorithms and really imputed all of the data
that we could possibly find, Chris came out
with a message saying, "Hey we just got
"83% diagnostic accuracy," and we said heck yeah.
That had been higher than what current
researchers are doing with lots of resources.
And so we said, okay, this is definitely possible
and we can definitely improve on this in the future.
- This technology is a game changer.
Earlier detection of Alzheimer's will lead
to better clinical trials, which means
better treatments and eventually a cure.
So Chris and Dhruv have turned their
DIY project into a startup called Synapto,
and it might not be long before this device
makes its way to your local doctor's office.
- EEGs have existed since like the 1970s.
Usually they're like big machines that
take up like half of the size of the room they're in,
but recently companies have been coming out
with like portable and affordable EEG technologies.
We built it and everything.
We 3D printed all the parts, we assembled it.
We can pair our algorithm with this device
to make Alzheimer's diagnosis more accessible
because devices like this do exist now.
- The access to 3D printers, access to a lot
of new software and a lot of new technology
is really integral as it allows
people from around the world to hack
into what's going on in the brain.
We hope to be able to put this device
in every doctor's office and maybe even
collaborate with big pharma companies
who are already conducting drug research
and help them assess the severity
of Alzheimer's disease using our technology.
- So I think the freedom that DIY gives you is fantastic.
It inspires innovation.
You can have more people trying out
different and diverse ideas.
I can do this on my own now and I don't need
to rely on the approval of all
the adults that are around me.
- I think DIY science is really what's changing
America's industries and it's what's really
propelling the entire tech sector.
People starting from their garages,
people starting from their dorms,
people starting from the ground up
is what's really going to propel the next
breakthroughs in science, technology and medicine.
The best time to DIY is now.
Anyone with a laptop or a computer,
and the intellect and motivation to do so
can build extremely great things.
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