The Open Loop with Chay Carter

In this episode of The Open Loop, Chay Carter is joined by Ken Nelson, Board Member, investor, venture partner, and advisor across multiple cardiac, digital health, AI, and neurotechnology companies.

Ken shares his journey from corporate finance into medical devices, cardiac rhythm management, remote patient monitoring, venture investing, and board roles across companies including Epitel, StimCardio, Echo IQ, HeartBeam, Acarix, and Happitech.

This is a practical conversation about what neurotechnology can learn from cardiac digital health, from remote monitoring and AI diagnostics to patient-friendly wearables and predictive care.

We also explore Epitel’s work in long-term EEG monitoring, the future of brainwave data, wearable neuromodulation, and why the next phase of neurotech may mirror many of the lessons already learned in cardiac care.

Key takeaways:

🔹 Why cardiac digital health has helped pave the way for remote neuro monitoring
🔹 How Epitel is changing the standard of care in long-term EEG monitoring
🔹 Why patient-friendly wearables can improve data quality and clinical yield
🔹 How AI and predictive analytics could support earlier intervention in heart and brain health
🔹 Why the future of healthcare may depend on combining cardiac, neurological, and biometric data

Host: Chay Carter

Founder, Carter Sciences | Co-Founder, Reccy Neuro

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chay-carter/

Guest: Ken Nelson

Board Member, investor, venture partner, and advisor

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-nelson-56aaa34/

Key Chapters:

00:39 Introduction to Ken Nelson
01:04 From Finance to Cardiac Medical Devices
09:57 iRhythm, Digital Health and Remote Monitoring
13:18 What Neurotech Can Learn from Cardiac Monitoring
16:05 Wearable Neuromodulation and StimCardio
18:04 Multi-Parameter Monitoring and Predictive Care
21:01 Epitel and Long-Term EEG Monitoring
26:53 Brain Data, AI and Actionable Reports

The Open Loop is a podcast exploring the people, companies, and ideas shaping the future of neurotechnology.

🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations with the founders, researchers, operators, and industry leaders building what comes next in brain health, medicine, and technology.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone interested in neurotechnology.

New episodes of The Open Loop drop weekly.

Sponsor:
This episode is sponsored by Reccy Neuro — the home of neurotech. Jobs, companies, investors, events, Cortex industry intelligence, and specialist resources for the neurotech market.

Learn more about Reccy Neuro here: https://neuro.reccy.dev/

In this episode of The Open Loop, Chay Carter is joined by Corey Keller, MD, PhD, Associate Professor at Stanford University and Co-Founder of Alto Neuroscience.

Corey shares his journey from engineering and intracranial brain recordings in epilepsy patients to psychiatry, TMS, neuroplasticity, and precision mental health.

This is an interesting conversation about what brain stimulation can do today, what we still do not fully understand, and why the next phase of psychiatry may depend on better ways to measure how treatments change the brain.

We explore Corey’s work using invasive and non-invasive brain recordings, his role in the early development of Alto Neuroscience, and why EEG, TMS, fMRI, brain state, dosing, timing, and treatment personalisation all matter in the future of neuromodulation.

We also discuss wearable neurotechnology, brain foundational models, accelerated TMS protocols, esketamine, clinical translation, advisory work, mentorship, and why Corey describes himself as a “skeptical neuroscientist” testing the questions that still need to be answered.

Key takeaways:

🔹 Why TMS may still be under-personalised despite its clinical impact
🔹 How EEG and brain recordings could help guide psychiatric treatment decisions
🔹 Why neuroplasticity needs to be measured at the millisecond level
🔹 How Alto Neuroscience emerged from work on EEG biomarkers and treatment selection
🔹 Why the future of mental health neurotechnology depends on better science, not just better devices

Guest: Corey Keller, MD, PhD

Associate Professor at Stanford University

Co-Founder of Alto Neuroscience

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corey-keller-stanford/

Host: Chay Carter

Founder, Carter Sciences | Co-Founder, Reccy Neuro

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chay-carter/

The Open Loop is a podcast exploring the people, companies, and ideas shaping the future of neurotechnology.

🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations with the founders, researchers, operators, and industry leaders building what comes next in brain health, medicine, and technology.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone interested in neurotechnology.

New episodes of The Open Loop drop weekly.

Sponsor:
This episode is sponsored by Reccy Neuro — the home of neurotech. Jobs, companies, investors, events, Cortex industry intelligence, and specialist resources for the neurotech market.

Learn more: https://neuro.reccy.dev/

In this episode of The Open Loop, Chay Carter is joined by Ildar Rakhmatulin, Founder and Lead Engineer at PiEEG, and Youssef El Abbassi, Co-Founder and Software Architect at PiEEG.

Ildar and Youssef share how they are making brain-computer interfaces more accessible through low-cost EEG hardware and open-source software tools.

This is a practical conversation about lowering the barrier to BCI experimentation, from Raspberry Pi-based EEG boards and PiEEG Server to WebSockets, dashboards, simulations, and developer-friendly tools.

We also explore in-ear EEG, VR and avatar applications, AI agents for interpreting brain data, consumer BCI, and what it could take to make brain-computer interfaces more useful outside the lab.

Key takeaways:

🔹 Why PiEEG is focused on lowering the barrier to entry for BCI development
🔹 How low-cost EEG hardware can support researchers, students, and creators
🔹 Why developer experience matters in brain-computer interface software
🔹 How open-source tools can improve transparency and accessibility in neurotech
🔹 Where in-ear EEG, AI agents, VR, and consumer BCI could take the field next

Guest: Ildar Rakhmatulin

Founder and Lead Engineer at PiEEG

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ildar-rakhmatulin-262a66112/

Guest: Youssef El Abbassi

Co-Founder and Software Architect at PiEEG

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yelabb/

Learn more about PiEEG here: https://www.pieeg.com/

Host: Chay Carter

Founder, Carter Sciences | Co-Founder, Reccy Neuro

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chay-carter/

The Open Loop is a podcast exploring the people, companies, and ideas shaping the future of neurotechnology.

🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations with the founders, researchers, operators, and industry leaders building what comes next in brain health, medicine, and technology.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone interested in neurotechnology.

New episodes of The Open Loop drop weekly.

Sponsor:
This episode is sponsored by Reccy Neuro — the home of neurotech. Jobs, companies, investors, events, Cortex industry intelligence, and specialist resources for the neurotech market.

In this episode of The Open Loop, Chay Carter is joined by Frank Desiere, PhD MBA, CEO of CorTec.

Frank shares his journey from molecular biology, medical devices, diagnostics and innovation into leading one of Europe’s most advanced brain-computer interface companies.

This is an insightful conversation about therapeutic BCI, stroke rehabilitation, closed-loop neurotechnology, and what it takes to bring implantable brain interfaces into clinical care.

We explore CorTec’s Brain Interchange platform, the company’s first-in-human implants, its focus on stroke recovery, and why the ability to both read from and stimulate the brain opens up a different category of therapeutic applications.

We also discuss patient access, neuroplasticity, device longevity, brain data, future indications including epilepsy and depression, and the ethical questions that come with the next phase of BCI.

Key takeaways:

🔹 Why CorTec is focused on therapeutic BCI, not just communication applications
🔹 How brain stimulation could support stroke rehabilitation and motor recovery
🔹 Why neuroplasticity matters for patients years after stroke
🔹 How CorTec is designing implantable technology for long-term use
🔹 Why brain data could become one of the next major frontiers in neurotechnology

Host: Chay Carter

Founder, Carter Sciences | Co-Founder, Reccy Neuro

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chay-carter/

Guest: Frank Desiere - PhD MBA

Chief Executive Officer, CorTec

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankdesiere/

Key Chapters:

00:39 Introduction to CorTec and Frank Desiere
03:24 Frank’s Journey into Neurotechnology
06:02 CorTec’s Milestones and First-in-Human Implants
08:49 Stroke Rehabilitation and Therapeutic BCI
11:44 BCI, DBS and Closed-Loop Neurotechnology
17:39 Neuroplasticity and Stroke Recovery Outcomes
23:28 Device Longevity and Brain Interchange Technology
29:20 Brain Data, Ethics and the Future of BCI

The Open Loop is a podcast exploring the people, companies, and ideas shaping the future of neurotechnology.

🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations with the founders, researchers, operators, and industry leaders building what comes next in brain health, medicine, and technology.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone interested in neurotechnology.

New episodes of The Open Loop drop every week.

Sponsor:
This episode is sponsored by Reccy Neuro: the home of neurotech. Jobs, companies, investors, events, Cortex industry intelligence, and specialist resources for the neurotech market.

Learn more about Reccy Neuro here: https://neuro.reccy.dev/

In this episode of The Open Loop, Chay Carter is joined by Daniel Månsson, Chief Scientific Officer and Founder at Flow Neuroscience.

Daniel shares his journey from clinical psychology and computer science into building one of the most recognised at-home neurostimulation companies for depression.

This is a practical conversation about tDCS, treatment-resistant depression, clinical evidence, and what it takes to bring brain stimulation out of the clinic and into the hands of patients.

We explore why Flow chose transcranial direct current stimulation, how the company built its evidence base across Europe and the UK, and what its FDA approval means for the next stage of growth in the US.

We also discuss the challenge of separating clinically validated neurotechnology from wellness products, the role of doctors in at-home treatment pathways, and how precision psychiatry could shape the next generation of depression care.

Key takeaways:

🔹 Why Flow Neuroscience chose tDCS for at-home depression treatment
🔹 How the company built clinical evidence through real-world data and RCTs
🔹 Why patient access is central to Flow’s approach
🔹 How at-home neurostimulation can balance accessibility with medical oversight
🔹 Why precision psychiatry could help match the right patients to the right treatments

Host: Chay Carter

Founder, Carter Sciences | Co-Founder, Reccy Neuro

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chay-carter/

Guest: Daniel Månsson

Chief Scientific Officer and Founder at Flow Neuroscience.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmanss/

Learn more about Flow Neuroscience: https://www.flowneuroscience.com/

Key Chapters:

00:39 Daniel’s Journey from Psychology to Neurotech
04:09 Building Flow Neuroscience for Depression Treatment
07:47 From European Regulation to FDA Approval
11:00 Insights from 60,000 Patients
14:26 Preparing for Flow’s US Launch
18:14 How the Flow tDCS Device Works
21:47 Expanding Indications and Next-Generation Devices
25:32 Balancing Patient Access, Safety, and Medical Oversight

Sponsor:
This episode is sponsored by Reccy Neuro — the home of neurotech. Jobs, companies, investors, events, Cortex industry intelligence, and specialist resources for the neurotech market.

Learn more about Reccy Neuro: https://neuro.reccy.dev/

The Open Loop is a podcast exploring the people, companies, and ideas shaping the future of neurotechnology.

🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations with the founders, researchers, operators, and industry leaders building what comes next in brain health, medicine, and technology.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone interested in neurotechnology.

New episodes of The Open Loop drop every week.

In this episode of The Open Loop, Chay Carter is joined by Brent Bellm, Chief Commercial Officer at Wave Neuroscience.

Brent shares how Wave Neuroscience is developing personalised, biomarker-led neuromodulation for mental health, including its recent FDA clearance for the treatment of PTSD.

This is a practical conversation about EEG-guided TMS, personalised stimulation, and what it could mean to move mental health care beyond one-size-fits-all protocols.

We explore how Wave uses resting-state EEG to analyse brainwave dysregulation, estimate each person’s intrinsic alpha frequency, and guide magnetic stimulation based on the individual brain.

We also discuss Brent’s journey from leading technology companies including PayPal, HomeAway, and BigCommerce into neuroscience, the commercial challenge of scaling software as a medical device, and why mental health care may be entering a new era of biomarker-led treatment.

Key takeaways:

🔹 Why Wave Neuroscience’s FDA clearance for PTSD is a major milestone for TMS
🔹 How EEG can help identify brainwave dysregulation before treatment begins
🔹 Why personalised stimulation may be more effective than one-size-fits-all protocols
🔹 How MERT uses each person’s intrinsic alpha frequency to guide treatment
🔹 Why neuromodulation could become a new phase of mental health care

Guest: Brent Bellm

Chief Commercial Officer, Wave Neuroscience

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brent-bellm-3b305214/

Host: Chay Carter

Founder, Carter Sciences | Co-Founder, Reccy Neuro

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chay-carter/

The Open Loop is a podcast exploring the people, companies, and ideas shaping the future of neurotechnology.

🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations with the founders, researchers, operators, and industry leaders building what comes next in brain health, medicine, and technology.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone interested in the future of neurotechnology.

New episodes of The Open Loop drop every week.

Sponsor:
This episode is sponsored by Reccy Neuro — the home of neurotech. Jobs, companies, investors, events, Cortex industry intelligence, and specialist resources for the neurotech market.

In this episode of The Open Loop, Chay Carter is joined by Daniel Powell, Founder of Spark Biomedical.

Daniel shares his journey from consulting into more than two decades in neuromodulation, with experience across spinal cord stimulation, DBS, vagus nerve stimulation, and non-invasive auricular neurostimulation.

This is a practical conversation about building clinically validated neurotechnology and taking one platform into multiple high-need areas.

We explore Spark Biomedical’s work across opioid withdrawal, surgical blood loss, and women’s health, as well as the challenges of reimbursement, clinical evidence, form factor, and scaling wearable neuromodulation into real-world care.

Key takeaways:

🔹 How Spark Biomedical is using auricular neurostimulation across multiple clinical applications
🔹 Why opioid withdrawal is a powerful but commercially challenging indication
🔹 How the “neural tourniquet” could help reduce blood loss in surgery and trauma
🔹 Why OhmBody is applying neurostimulation to heavy menstrual bleeding and women’s health
🔹 Why clinical evidence matters as wearable neurotechnology becomes more accessible

Host: Chay Carter

Founder, Carter Sciences | Co-Founder, Reccy Neuro

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chay-carter/

Guest: Daniel Powell

Founder, Spark Biomedical Inc

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-powell-a377055/

The Open Loop is a podcast exploring the people, companies, and ideas shaping the future of neurotechnology.

🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations with the founders, researchers, operators, and industry leaders building what comes next in brain health, medicine, and technology.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone interested in the future of neurotechnology.

Sponsor:
This episode is sponsored by Reccy Neuro — the home of neurotech. Jobs, companies, investors, events, Cortex industry intelligence, and specialist resources for the neurotech market.

In this episode of The Open Loop, Chay Carter is joined by Ken Mariash, CEO of Sinaptica Therapeutics.

Ken shares how Sinaptica is developing a non-invasive, personalised neuromodulation therapy designed to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease by targeting the brain networks involved in memory.

This is a practical conversation about moving beyond amyloid-only thinking and looking at Alzheimer’s as a disease of network dysfunction.

We also explore Ken’s background in medtech, biopharma, and neuromodulation, as well as Sinaptica’s Phase 2 data, pivotal trial plans, reimbursement strategy, and vision for biomarker-led Alzheimer’s care.

Key takeaways:

🔹 Why Alzheimer’s may need to be understood as a disease of network dysfunction
🔹 How Sinaptica is combining TMS and EEG to personalise neuromodulation
🔹 Why traditional TMS can be limited by targeting and dosing uncertainty
🔹 How biomarker-led therapy could help clinicians understand whether treatment is working
🔹 Why non-invasive, personalised brain stimulation could become part of the future Alzheimer’s treatment pathway

Guest: Ken Mariash

CEO of Sinaptica Therapeutics

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenmariash/

Host: Chay Carter

Founder, Carter Sciences | Co-Founder, Reccy Neuro

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chay-carter/

The Open Loop is a podcast exploring the people, companies, and ideas shaping the future of neurotechnology.

🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations with the founders, researchers, and operators building what comes next in brain health, medicine, and technology.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone interested in the future of neurotechnology.

New episodes of The Open Loop drop every week.

Sponsor:
This episode is sponsored by ReccyNeuro — the home of neurotech. Jobs, companies, investors, events, Cortex industry intelligence, and specialist resources for the neurotech market.

Learn more about ReccyNeuro here: https://neuro.reccy.dev/

In this episode of The Open Loop, Chay Carter is joined by Laura Avonius, Founder and CEO of Audicin.

Laura is a Finnish entrepreneur, composer, and digital health leader building at the intersection of music, neuroscience, and nervous system regulation.

She shares how her journey from behavioural science, tech, and music led to the creation of Audicin, a company developing neuroscience-based audio journeys designed to help people focus, recharge, and sleep better.

This is a fascinating conversation about audio medicine, binaural beats, brain entrainment, and the challenge of building evidence-based products in a market crowded with overclaiming and questionable content.

We explore how sound can influence brainwave states, why the listening experience matters, how Audicin is approaching sleep and daytime regulation, and why the future of neurotech may depend on giving people real help, not just more measurement.

Key takeaways:

🔹 How Audicin is using neuroscience-based audio to support focus, relaxation, and sleep
🔹 Why many binaural beat tracks online may not be what they claim to be
🔹 How brain entrainment works through frequency differences between the left and right ear
🔹 Why form factor matters when building sleep technology people will actually use
🔹 Why neurotech products need to prioritise real-world support, not just data and measurement

Host: Chay Carter

Founder, Carter Sciences | Co-Founder, Reccy Neuro

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chay-carter/

Guest: Laura Avonius

Founder and CEO of Audicin

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-avonius-398a8617/

Chapters:

00:39 Introduction to Audicin and Audio Medicine
06:34 Finding Calm in Busy Urban Life
09:23 How Binaural Beats Influence Brain States
12:26 The Science and Skepticism Around Binaural Beats
18:37 Building the Audicin Sleep Headband
21:34 Expanding Beyond Sleep into Nervous System Regulation
28:21 Why People Need Help, Not Just More Measurement
37:54 Audicin’s Neurotech Business Strategy and Market Vision

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone interested in the future of neurotechnology.

New episodes of The Open Loop drop every Wednesday, with conversations featuring the founders, researchers, operators, and industry leaders shaping what comes next in brain health, medicine, and technology.

Sponsor:
This episode is sponsored by Reccy Neuro — the home of neurotech. Jobs, companies, investors, events, Cortex industry intelligence, and specialist resources for the neurotech market.

In this episode of The Open Loop, Chay Carter is joined by Dr Nandan Lad and Amaza Reitmeier, the executive leaders behind Pharaoh Neuro.

Nandan is a neurosurgeon at Duke and the inventor behind Neurapheresis, while Amaza brings nearly 25 years of leadership experience from Medtronic, including deep experience in brain therapies and DBS.

This is a practical conversation about Pharaoh Neuro’s mission to create a new category in brain care: CSF modulation, or what Nandan describes as “neurodialysis”.

We explore how Neurapheresis could change the treatment pathway for subarachnoid haemorrhage and hemorrhagic stroke by actively filtering cerebrospinal fluid, removing blood and inflammatory material, and helping reduce devastating downstream complications.

We also discuss the company’s clinical data, Series A raise, regulatory pathway, reimbursement strategy, and the broader platform potential across neuroinflammatory conditions.

Key takeaways:

🔹 Why hemorrhagic stroke remains a major unmet need in brain care
🔹 How Neurapheresis works as a closed-loop CSF filtration system
🔹 Why Pharaoh Neuro is building a new therapeutic category, not just a device
🔹 What early clinical studies showed in blood and protein clearance
🔹 How CSF modulation could expand into meningitis, ALS, MS, leptomeningeal disease, and other neuroinflammatory conditions

Host: Chay Carter

Founder, Carter Sciences | Co-Founder, Reccy Neuro

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chay-carter/

Guest: Amaza Reitmeier

CEO & Director, Pharaoh Neuro

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amaza-reitmeier/

Guest: Nandan Lad

Chief Medical Officer & Co-Founder​

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nandan-lad-6262805/

Key Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Pharaoh Neuro and Its Founders
02:39 The Origin Story of Neurapheresis
05:27 How Neurapheresis and CSF Modulation Work
10:20 Clinical Validation and Early Patient Results
13:31 Regulatory Pathways and Creating a New Category
15:25 Platform Potential Beyond Hemorrhagic Stroke
20:18 Pharaoh Neuro and the Broader Neurotech Landscape
23:36 Restoring CSF Balance and What Comes Next

The Open Loop is a podcast exploring the people, companies, and ideas shaping the future of neurotechnology.

🔔 Subscribe for weekly conversations with the founders, researchers, and operators building what comes next in brain health, medicine, and technology.