InteliSpark client, Eysz Inc., wins a phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to develop technology to detect seizures based on eye-movement data.
In the United States, around 3.4 million people have epilepsy, a neurological disorder in which abnormal brain activity causes seizures. Absence seizures are a type of seizure in which brief abnormal brain activity causes a short blanking out or staring into space. Due to few observable symptoms, absence seizures are difficult to diagnose using current technologies. Electroencephalogram (EEG) monitoring is the standard system for detecting and characterizing seizures but has significant limitations including poor detection capability and not translating well into an outpatient setting.
Eysz is addressing this critical need by developing an algorithm and software solutions to detect absence seizures. Using eye-movement data from eye-tracking systems, physicians in outpatient settings will have the potential to reliably detect seizures in near real-time. This will enable better therapeutic decision-making, decrease time to treatment, save lives and ultimately improve the quality of life for epileptic patients. Dr. Rachel Kuperman, founder and CEO of Eysz, will lead this research effort.