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mHUB Member Spotlight: NoMo Diagnostics


mHUB Member Spotlight: NoMo Diagnostics

NoMo Diagnostics

1.6 to 3.8 million concussions occur each year during sports and recreation. Co-founders of NoMo Diagnostics, Harald Steltzer, Dr. Barclay Morrison III, and Dr. James M. Noble, believe in modernizing the current standard for concussion detection involving paper and pencil questionnaires after self reporting or being spotted. The company seeks to strengthen accuracy in detection by automating the measurement of brainwaves and the reporting of results in real-time, thus reforming the method followed today in sports and military applications. The diagnostic aid embedded in helmets and headgear will act as an emergency alert to the affected individual, athletic trainers, medics, coaches, and parents by alerting the moment there is potential for brain injury which can be confirmed through a clinical assessment by a trained healthcare provider. 


In this member spotlight, Tyler Grudowski, product development engineer with NoMo Diagnostics since 2018, shares his startup journey.


Where did your idea and value proposition start?

The product idea was initially adopted from a student research project by co-founders, Dr. Morrison and Dr. Noble, professors at Columbia University. Based on the alarmingly high number of overlooked concussions and the magnitude of permanent damage, the idea was developed to depend on an electroencephalogram (EEG) to monitor brain activity and detect concussions.  

NoMo technology, composed of a set of five EEG sensors, is capable of reading the brain’s reaction to different environmental stimuli. The reaction data is captured and transmitted to a tablet in real-time where an algorithm will determine whether the helmet wearer has likely suffered a concussive event. The user of the tablet will then get an alert recommending that the wearer be removed from the activity for further evaluation and treatment.  


What led you to mHUB?

I was fortunate to connect with NoMo co-founder and CEO, Harald Steltzer, during a career fair at mHUB. After a move from Boston to Chicago, Harald learned of mHUB and decided that it was the perfect environment to work towards developing the product and business. 


“The most important thing about mHUB is the community and its connectedness with other civic accelerators, like MATTER, a healthcare incubator” said Harald Steltzer. “The great chemistry between the groups and having the network of network effect has really supported our efforts at NoMo.”


How has your business grown?

In addition to integrating our technology within military, football, and MMA helmets, we’ve made major strides in research in-part thanks to a Department of Defense (DoD) grant. We’re currently waiting for the second round of DoD funding that will support field tests to gather sufficient data and finalize product development. 


The network at mHUB has been beneficial to both my own professional development, and the business overall. Between classes, events, and mHUB’s corporate partners, we’ve been able to learn more about what it takes to build a startup, meet professionals in parallel fields, and work with partners like UL and FisherUnitech. For example, during an Industry Disruptors event at mHUB, we met Carbon CEO and co-founder, Joseph DeSimone, who’s working with Riddell to replace foam and air padding in football helmets with 3D printed lattice structures.


What’s next for NoMo Diagnostics?

We hope to conduct three studies within the next year: a college football concussion study through a grant from the Football Players Health Study at Harvard University, for which we are currently recruiting university teams, a DoD pilot study at a training ground, and a mixed martial arts (MMA) study to gain valuable data to advance the NoMo Diagnostics platform technology.

For questions, contact info@nomodx.com.