EEG’s are great for diagnosing all sorts of conditions, including head injuries and seizures. But they’re hard to administer and thus don’t get used as often as they should. Elena Fraser and Duncan Kabinu, work with EncephaloDynamics a company that has developed a cap that makes EEG’s much easier to use. A born adventurer, Elena grew up one of four girls with a single mom. Duncan, a notable in Gainesville’s start-up scene, is no stranger to challenges. 

 

TRANSCRIPT:

 

Intro: 0:20

Inventors and their inventions. Welcome to Radio Cade, the podcast from the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention in Gainesville, Florida. The museum is named after James Robert Cade who invented Gatorade in 1965. My name is Richard Miles. We'll introduce you to inventors and the things that motivate them. We'll learn about their personal stories, how their inventions work, and how their ideas get from the laboratory to the marketplace.

Richard Miles: 0:39

All right. This morning we're going to be talking about brainwaves. I'm Richard Miles from Radio Cade and I have with me today, two guests, Elena Fraser and Duncan Kabinu welcome, Elena and Duncan.

Duncan Kabinu: 0:49

Thank you.

Elena Fraser: 0:49

Thank you.

Richard Miles: 0:50

Before we talk about your individual backgrounds and how you came to this project, Elena, I was wondering if you could just for our listeners, explain to me sort of the core technology, the core idea behind this invention in as simple terms as possible. I say this is for the listeners, but it's really just for me because I have a hard time understanding really technical stuff. So what exactly are we talking about? What is the core technology behind your business model?

Elena Fraser: 1:13

Sure. Okay we've invented a cap that acquires brainwave patterns to find problems that are related to electrical activity in the brain. The procedure itself is called an electroencephalogram or EEG, and through an EEG, doctors can look for abnormal patterns that indicate specific seizures or different brain problems. So what our product does is it simplified this procedure that has used kind of an antiquated technology for decades and we've simplified it so that a 20 minute - 25 minute procedure now only takes a matter of minutes because what happens when a patient has a brain injury, it's important to be able to do an EEG quickly because time loss equals brain loss and if you can make that happen, you can make that diagnosis happen faster and you can also bring about better outcomes for the patient.

Richard Miles: 2:08

So an EEG essentially measures brainwaves and doctors know what sort of normal brain waves look like. So when they see an abnormal pattern in the brain waves they know that something may be up like a seizure or concussion. Is that more or less accurate?

Elena Fraser: 2:23

That's correct.

Richard Miles: 2:24

All right, good. Good. I think I understand. Duncan, how did you jump into this project and what stage was the project when you jumped into it and what is your job?

Duncan Kabinu: 2:33

Sure, so I was introduced to a couple other inventors in this project by a local entrepreneur who knew my background as a person that loves to tinker with stuff and build stuff, and so they asked me to come in and help with prototyping this product and so I met Dr. Sackal