Avert CEO Preston Badeer presents his company’s concussion technology during UNeMed’s 2016 Demo Day event in October. (File photo)
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 6, 2017)—Avert, an Omaha company developing a concussion-detection device, was one of just 40 university startup companies selected for a national demo day later this month.
Based on research by Nick Stergiou, PhD, director of UNO’s Department of Biomechanics, the device uses a person’s balance as a way to measure brain health.
All healthy people make constant, subconscious adjustments to their balance as they stand in place. Dr. Stergiou’s innovative approach was to find a way to recognize the hidden patterns in those adjustments. After a person suffers a brain injury, such as a concussion, it changes the pattern of those subconscious adjustments.
Even when a person exhibits no outward symptoms, Avert’s technology can still detect the injury without relying on subjective questionnaires or clinical judgements.
Using the device would be similar to standing on a bathroom scale for about 30 seconds.
Hosted by the National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer, the University Startups Conference and Demo Day begins the three-day event on April 18. Organizers plan to bring together more than 300 entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, industry professionals, angel investors, and corporate executives, among others.
