Craig Mermel on working at Google and Apple and now at Precision Neuroscience
Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions
Release Date: 12/19/2022
Balint Varkuti on turning neuromodulation technologies into Brain-Computer-Interfaces using software by CereGate
Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions
Balint Varkuti is the CEO of CereGate which unlocks new capabilities for existing neuromodulation technologies using software. Top 3 Takeaways: "the brain is naturally wired for pattern perception for learning, and that's really what we do. We send signals that the brain very quickly can pick up." "You do not need to exclusively be focused mentally, consciously on interpreting these signals. Rather it becomes second nature. Our favourite analogy is saying it is like braille for the brain." "With hardware, you sometimes have simply the disadvantage that you are married to the time point when...
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Kevin Tracey returns to the podcast to give an update about his work at the Feinstein Institutes, the field of bioelectronic medicine and exciting vagus nerve clinical trials underway
Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions
returns to the podcast to give an update about his work at the and the work at . Top 3 Takeaways: "Two years we discovered that a drug called Famotidine, which is sold as a generic drug Pepcid AC is actually a pharmacological or a drug-based vagus nerve stimulator. And we proved first in mice that famotidine placed directly in very small amounts placed directly in the brains of mice activates the vagus nerve. And this in turn turned off cytokine storm, which of course is a big problem in Covid 19" "A company that I've co-founded, Setpoint Medical, is currently deep into clinical trials in...
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Israel Gasperin on measuring cannabis effects quanitatively with EEG with Zentrela
Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions
is the founder and CEO of which uses wearable EEG caps to quantitatively measure cannabis experiences. Top 3 Takeaways: "The reason why the government funded us was to use this for safety and law enforcement" "The combination of features that AI is finding is something that we haven't really focused on studying and trying to understand. It's a black box today that, is accurately and objectively characterizing the psychoactive effects, but we don't exactly know what they mean." "Based on this neuroscience-driven research proving the onset time of the beverage, within two weeks [the...
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Colin Kealey on the non-pharmaceutical adolescent ADHD treatment with NeuroSIgma
Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions
is the President and CEO of which is commercializing the Monarch eTNS System, the first non-drug treatment for pediatric ADHD cleared by the FDA. Top 3 Takeaways: NeuroSigma is commercializing the Monarch eTNS system, a wearable medical device that stimulates the trigeminal nerve on the forehead, as a treatment for neurologic and neuropsychiatric indications. The Monarch eTNS System is FDA cleared as a treatment for pediatric ADHD, ages 7 – 12. Clinical trials in this population show a response rate of 50% with a only mild side effects observed in clinical trials to date. NeuroSigma...
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Craig Mermel on working at Google and Apple and now at Precision Neuroscience
Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions
is the President and Chief Product Officer at which is a company looking to commercialize Brain-Computer Interfaces using a minimally implantation method and a soft electrode device. ***This podcast is sponsored by Iris Biomedical, check out their Neurotech Startup Services Top 3 Takeaways "The combination of both the nature of our thin film and the surgical innovations that we bring enables us to bring cortical surface neurotechnology to patients in a minimally invasive fashion." "Having 10 times the amount of money at an early stage before you actually solve some of the key problems can...
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Lothar Krinke on adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation at Newronika
Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions
Lothar Krinke is the CEO and Board Member of Newronika which is an adaptive Deep Brain Stimulator company looking to improve patient outcomes in things like Parkinson's and Essential Tremor. ***This podcast is sponsored by Iris Biomedical, check out their Neurotech Startup Services Top 3 Takeaways: "the one thing we do need to address is really the cost. The cost driver of Deep Brain Stimulation isn't the manufacturing of the system. Now, that's not cheap either it's certainly less than $10,000. How expensive is brain surgery, particularly functional brain surgery? How expensive is it to...
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Damiano G. Barone on being a neurosurgeon and improving patient quality of life through surgery
Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions
is a neurosurgery clinical lecturer at the University of Cambridge and fellow at The Walton Centre in Liverpool, UK. He is interested in tackling basic and translational challenges for the development of the next generation of neural bioelectronics. ***This podcast is sponsored by Ripple Neuro, check out their Neuroscience Research Tools Top 3 Takeaways: "My favorite procedure is the procedure that works and you see the patient after that is is a changed patient." "You come out from medical school like age 23 or 24. Then you get to a general medical program which in the...
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Jon Sakai on interacting with your target patients and the neural sleeve made by Cionic
Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions
is the Head of Commercialization at , a wearable neurostimulator sleeve for those with neuromuscular disease ***This podcast is sponsored by Iris Biomedical, check out their Neurotech Startup Services Top 3 Takeaways: "There isn't any individualized training that needs to happen. What needs to happen is the identification of which muscle groups need support and have those turned on and programmed in intensity appropriately." "We were able to improve door sub selection and inversion in more than 90% of our participants." "There's nothing like getting an appreciation for a problem like the...
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Hannah Claridge on helping small neurotech companies with R&D work at TTP
Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions
is the Head of Neurotechnology at which is a consultancy that helps neurotech companies create the next generation of medical devices. ***This podcast is sponsored by Iris Biomedical, check out their Neurotech Startup Services Top 3 Takeaways: "I think consulting is really fantastic for the variety that it offers you. Not just in terms of seeing problems, but also working with different types of companies, different types of technologies, and having different day-to-day activities as well" "There have been cases where we've worked with very small companies where the company is composed...
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Lindsey Jardine talks all about clinical trials for neurotech
Neural Implant podcast - the people behind Brain-Machine Interface revolutions
is a clinical project manager at Boston Scientific which had acquired , a cardiac ablation medical device company she was working in. She runs clinical trials for medtech companies and had done so for neurotech companies as well. ***This podcast is sponsored by Iris Biomedical, check out their Neurotech Startup Services Top 3 Takeaways: "One of the most difficult things that I've found while you're actually running the study, is making sure those devices are getting to the sites, which is depending on where your manufacturer is" Hiring a Contract Research Organization (CRO) or hiring...
info_outlineCraig Mermel is the President and Chief Product Officer at Precision Neuroscience which is a company looking to commercialize Brain-Computer Interfaces using a minimally implantation method and a soft electrode device.
***This podcast is sponsored by Iris Biomedical, check out their Neurotech Startup Services here***
Top 3 Takeaways
- "The combination of both the nature of our thin film and the surgical innovations that we bring enables us to bring cortical surface neurotechnology to patients in a minimally invasive fashion."
- "Having 10 times the amount of money at an early stage before you actually solve some of the key problems can be a problem because it pushes off some of the hard questions you have to ask yourself."
- "We're thinking ahead to the future where you have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions of interfaces. The amount of damage you do will become a limiting factor at some point."
0:45 Do you want to introduce yourself better than I just did?
1:30 Why did you leave Apple and Google?
2:30 What is Precision and why is it special?
6:00 What's the funding look like?
8:00 "Why hasn't this been done before?"
10:00 Are you thinking about licensing out the technology?
11:15 Iris Biomedical ad sponsorship
12:00 What's your role now in Precision?"
12:45 "What are some of your biggest challenges?"
15:30 You guys raised $12M, why specifically this number?
19:00 "What are some, best practices or traps to avoid?"
21:45 Let's do a deeper dive into your work at Google and Apple
27:30 How would you compare working at Google and Apple vs being in a startup?
29:15 "Is there anything that we didn't talk about that you wanted to mention?"