Purdue-affiliated startup secures funding for stress tech
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A Purdue University-affiliated startup has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer grant to develop game-based interventions it says can help identify stress and anxiety in real time. LifeSpan will use the $255,409 grant from the National Science Foundation to partially develop the technology through research at Purdue’s College of Engineering.
The funding will be used to support research led by Wenzhuo Wu, an associate professor of industrial engineering in Purdue’s School of Industrial Engineering. Additional research will be performed at George Mason University and the Virginia Serious Game Institute.
“The proceeds will prove or disprove the hypothesis that an interactive, game-based mental health intervention that uses autonomic biofeedback training will be an effective mental health and substance abuse intervention,” said LifeSpan CEO Jeffrey Cary. “We also will prove the effectiveness and adoptability of Wu’s heart rate variability-based, or HRV, wearable device.”
According to Wu, LifeSpan’s intervention technology improves upon current methods to determine individuals in need of mental health services.
“Current methods for identifying and diagnosing mental disorders are often based on unreliable, retrospective self-reporting that is dependent on high levels of client motivation and insight,” Wu said. “Some apps assess stress and sleep issues subjectively, without relying on physiological measurements. Further, common modes of clinic- or lab-based mental health assessment and treatment delivery are severely limited in scope and only serve a fraction of those in need.”
In addition, Purdue says LifeSpan’s technology will utilize Wu’s wearable triboelectric device, which converts human motion into operational power by capturing cardiovascular information in pulse signals.
“By using a combination of actively and passively collected in situ data, our technology platform will allow end users to understand links between emotions, stressors and social interaction, and enable them to make lasting positive improvements to mental and physical health,” Wu said.
The Phase I research is expected to result in an end-to-end proof of concept, as well as three published papers in peer-reviewed journals and a conference presentation in 2023.
“These results will allow LifeSpan to attract venture capital and strategic industry partnerships, and we will apply for follow-on Phase II and Phase III funding for Wu’s research,” said Cary.