Start-up company with BME ties earns ATMRD poster award
August 27, 2024 — A research team from Fasikl — a start-up co-founded by Department of Biomedical Engineering Associate Professor Zhi Yang — recently received an Advanced Therapeutics in Movement & Related Disorders (ATMRD) Poster Award.
The team presented the findings of their initial pilot study of Fasikl’s noninvasive, non-pharmaceutical AI stimulation device for the treatment of essential tremor at the third annual ATMRD Congress held in Washington, D.C. Their poster was titled, “Pilot Study of the Felix NeuroAI Wristband in Patients with Essential Tremor.”
Pilot study offers hope for those with essential tremor
The pilot study was designed to assess the overall safety, tolerability, and general effectiveness of Fasikl’s Felix NeuroAI wristband. This new stimulation therapy is autonomously managed by AI to provide all-day tremor relief in both hands.
The research team found that the wristband was well-tolerated by study participants, and importantly, treatment with the wristband resulted in tremor improvement for 81.2 percent of assessed patients, including those with mild and moderate tremors.
The device could one day help those with essential tremor, a common neurological disorder that can significantly affect quality of life and cause disability. Pharmaceutical therapies are ineffective or only partially effective in a considerable number of patients, and surgical interventions are expensive and carry safety risks.
The AI wristband was developed to function independently or concurrently with other therapies.
Translating research to real-world innovations
Fasikl was founded in 2019 and was largely based on research conducted at Prof. Yang's Neuroelectronics Lab. The department has played a key role in creating strong infrastructure for translating discoveries, he explains:
“The Department of Biomedical Engineering fosters a supportive culture that drives lab research into real-world medical device technologies, with a strong commitment to inventing new healthcare solutions. As Fasikl continues to grow, we remain committed to collaborating with the department and the broader University, and strengthening its collaboration with the medical device industry.”
Fasikl has licensed patents invented by Prof. Yang’s lab through the UMN Office of Technology Commercialization. In addition to being Fasikl’s co-founder, Prof. Yang serves as its CEO and director of the board.
Fasikl has sponsored multiple UMN projects, including two projects with Prof. Yang’s lab at BME. Jules Anh Tuan Nguyen, a graduate of UMN’s Biomedical Engineering PhD program, was an author of the poster.
Additional poster authors include Richard Dewey III, MD; Stuart Isaacson, MD; Richard Dewey Jr., MD; Kelly Lyons, PhD; Qi Zhao, PhD; Zhen Zhang, PhD; and Rajesh Pahwa, MD.
