U: The Brain Company

My name is Mo Abouelsoud and I am the Founder/CEO of U: The Brain Company. I love neuroscience and chipotle and anything associated with those 2! Which makes sense as to why I love my company U because I created the ideas for the technology while I was eating my double wrapped burrito at Chipotle! I am 22 years old and I am very passionate about our work because it saved my life; I hope to share this technology with the entire planet.

We are investigating portable brain stimulation devices for mental health disorders. Mental health disorders such as General Anxiety, Major Depressive, and Bipolar Disorder inflict 1/5 American adults, and numbers are increasing during COVID-19 through social isolation and increase hospital activity for the frontline workers. This leads to stress, fatigue, suicidal ideation, and burnout across all individuals including the physician community. Our project can allow for a safe, at-home treatment, that is very effective towards alleviating these symptoms. Interestingly, the elevation of humanity's consciousness will happen when this product become more mainstream. By increasing activity in areas of the brain associated with social connection and empathy, the world will be a very different place with our work.

Our solution directly addresses the burnout frontline workers are facing due to the number of COVID-19 infections increasing. Nurses have to work long hours treating patients while also avoiding contracting the disease themselves and spending long hours away from their families. Even before the burnout, 63% of nurses reported experiencing burnout. This causes mental fatigue and physical exhaustion which can lead to strained decision making and stress elevation. All of these factors can lead to depressive and anxiety symptoms such as burnout, fatigue, and suicidal ideation.

Our solution also addresses social isolation and the resulting side effects due to COVID-19 and social distancing. Due to the increased uncertainty regarding the immediate future during this pandemic, many Americans are experiencing increased loneliness and anxiety. In fact, 1 in 10 Americans reported virtual video chats and phone calls only exacerbated feelings of loneliness. All of these factors will increase depressive symptoms, therefore, increasing the probability of suicidal ideation and self-inflicted harm.

We have built an investigational medical device that stimulates regions in the frontal cortex through electrodes in a headband for mental health disorders. This portable transcranial stimulation device has an expected sale price of ~$100 and is used at home for 20 minutes a day. We have clinical significant data coming from the following domains: Major Depressive Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, ADHD, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Physician Burnout.

The ease of use of the device allows for people to have it on while completing other activities in the home or office. The device is worn for 20 minutes in the morning before the day begins. No short-term or long-term adverse side effects have been reported during device testing with over 3000+ hours of data recorded. Non-adverse side effects including skin tingling and nausea. The device has not been cleared by the FDA and is undergoing more trials.

Our product serves all. It is the classic idea of not knowing specifically who your customers is means a lack of focus. But our customers are anyone with a brain. We are here to first serve the population who are suffering from mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety. But our goal is to extend our presence to all individuals who would like to increase their brian plasticity and empathy with others by stimulating those circuits in the frontal lobe. We are here to serve the individuals in front of us and we would like to continue to serve even outside of the company as well. The device is significantly assisting these individuals suffering from disorders as well as doctors using the device for their burnout! We have clinical significant results on many quantitive scales to measure this.

At first glance, one would think we are solving one of the most difficult problems in the world (mental illness). But actually, we are increasing the social connections between people by stimulating those circuits in the brain. Furthermore, on a deep level, if the individual's level of mental resilience can allow them to navigate in this world of heightened uncertainty to support themselves and their loved ones, then the pandemic scenarios become another hurdle that we are confident in jumping over.

I have always enjoys looking into my mind and create meaning in the world around me. I founded the company at a Chipotle while I was eating a burrito when I connected some papers I was reading in the neurotech field. I was looking at a vent on the ceiling when I imagined running complex EM fields through the vent to create geometric patters in the negative area underneath.
I realized one can translate this concept into the brain and start working on building a company around it. I connected with some individuals in the  community who lead me on how to create a company, engineering, FDA, and trials. I was very excited when we finally built a prototype and starting using it!

I have to say that it was the Chipotle burrito that kept me from jumping up and screaming "EUREKA!" that day.

So this project saved my life. The technology cured my Bipolar Disease alongside running the company to give me deep purpose. This is very important to me because I can feel the pain that others go through when they suffer with depression or anxiety. I want to help them and rid them of this unwanted feeling.
I am motivated by that feeling of pain. I don't want others to feel that, so I will continue to work hard to bring them the happiness they deserve.

We have many doctors and ivy league PhDs involved in this company. In fact, some of them are from MIT! We have great experience in the medical device field, engineering, communication, and financing. We are very well positioned to bring this device out. 
In terms of me specifically, my DNA is literally intertwined with this technology and I know first hand how it saved me. My motivation sets my vision for this company for the rest of my life. I will continue to learn, lead, and lend a hand to serve humanity.

Every single bit of information that the brain absorbs is a confirmation that you are on the right track. The brain creates meaning out of everything. I know that all the signs of the universe are guiding me to best serve others. I built this company 1.5 years ago with the idea to change the myself and change the world.

I have never failed.

I only learn. Therefore, even the people who doubt me are only a learning lesson to serve them and teach them about optimism. I grew up with a learning disability and a mental health disability and I continue to serve others through thick and thin. I will never quit. In fact, I would rather say "I will always serve."

There is this non-profit in the community named Global Cleveland. They help immigrants settle into the NorthEast Ohio area. They reached out to me expressing interest in connecting with my islamic contacts through email to tell them to fill out the census. I thought that it would be better to help them differently.
So I went to my local mosque and I created business cards with their logos and a link to the census. I wrote on the cards a fill in section to have the individual I hand to write down how many people they filled the census for. Furthermore, I gamified the whole experience! I bought some containers/mugs and wrote down other venues in the community and how many filled out the census from that venue. This motivated individuals to fill out the census at the mosque when they saw how low their score was. Although this isn't exactly leadership, it does show my ability to execute, serve, and go above and beyond the call of duty.

There are many ways in which our project is innovative. Already, we have 2500+ hours of recorded device use with 0 adverse effects in both the short and long term. We have reports of skin tingling and some nausea but these side effects are considered non-adverse in the eyes of the FDA.

Furthermore, since our device is cost-effective, ~$300, we substantially improve upon existing technologies and medications currently used to treat mental health disorders in terms of cost. While the cost of the device is in a suitable range for many income classes, the portability and ease of use allows individuals to use the device without having it interfere with their day.

Lastly, and very importantly, since the device is reusable, the probability of relapse of a certain mental disorder greatly decreases since the treatment is always available at use wherever the user decides to place the device.

Change in the world happens through the brain. When the brain is plastic, more change can happen. We can make the brain more plastic and therefore increase change.

That is the essence of our technology. Increase brain plasticity and activity in regions of the brain associated with mood, social bonding, empathy, and personality! We believe because we are assisting the core of reality, we are assisting everything built above that core.

We have served 16 doctors and individuals directly through the device. We will be serving at least 1,000 individuals in 1 year. And we will be serving at least 1 million by year 5.

Our goals is to continue the serve the people in front of us. Whether it being helping bag the groceries of the elderly couple in front of us, helping a local non-profit, or picking up the trash we see on the sidewalk, we will continue to serve the world in front of us. I don't know where I will be in 5 years. I mean, no one expected COVID-19 to happen. However, what I will say is wherever I will be, I will serve. 

I will continue to make good connections with people in the community and raise awareness about our technology.

We need financial support to get the device through the FDA. There are 2 routes we are going to go through with the FDA. With Major Depressive Disorder we are going through the PMA route. With Generalized Anxiety Disorder we are going with the 510k route.

We do need funding the build the final prototype and make a huge impact to elevate humanity.

We are continuing to connect to people who need the product and support others through our technology. We are building out network of investors to carry out this goal as well.

We are working with many doctors across the US/Canada with our technology and people in the local community as well.

Our current solution costs ~$50 in parts, ~$100 after manufacturing, and will be sold around ~$100 with a subscription pulse model for $10 a month. We are going the FDA clearance route for some diseases such as Insomnia and General Anxiety Disorder. However, we are going the FDA Approval route for Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder. These different FDA routes allow for different reimbursement strategies for different diseases. The more strenuous FDA approval route allows us to showcase a great amount of data to increase the probability that our device will get reimbursed by insurance companies. Furthermore, due to the cost and safety nature of the device, we posit this to be a first-line treatment for neuropsychiatric disorders leading to a greater degree of confidence in newly issued CPT codes and reimbursement status.

Our business model revolves around selling the device and using the profit to create better devices in the future. Our primary consumers are first going to be doctors and patients suffering from burnout or mental health disorders.

Our short term models are going to be strictly through selling the device. In the future, we are going to create personalized closed loop EEG-tCS devices with a subscription model to analyze one's brain activity.

We have bootstrapped this company.

We are looking to raise 1.5 million dollars to support operations.

None

I am applying to Elevate prize to raise funds and to raise awareness on our work. We are changing the world and we want the right people to support us.

We would like to partner and help as many people as we can. Any partnership with doctors is much needed and wanted. We would like for physicians themselves to use this device for their burnout.

We don't have a specific list of names or organizations we would like to partner with. We are working with all types of individuals so anyone that comes our ways is a useful connection!