At the “Together for Tomorrow – Enabling People” innovation event, sponsored by Samsung and held during the Paris Olympics 2024, 24-year-old Bengaluru student Shankar Srinivasan introduced Sputnik Brain, a cutting-edge wearable gadget that uses non-invasive brain modulation to reduce stress. With its chemical-free stress-relieving approach, this gadget has the potential to revolutionise mental healthcare.
Inspiration Behind Sputnik Brain
The origins of Sputnik Brain can be traced back to Shankar Srinivasan’s personal experiences with stress. He entered the field of generative AI at the age of 19, launching a firm with the goal of using AI and video content to transform education. He was really concerned and unhappy when the startup failed. He sought assistance from psychiatrists and therapists, but was unable to find a different solution due to the adverse effects of his drugs.
Srinivasan’s interest in neuroscience and brain regulation only emerged while he was doing his MSc in Behavioural Science at Christ University, Bengaluru. After seeing that quitting up was not an option, he started looking into stress-reduction techniques. This brought him to NIMHANS neuroscientist Dr. Arun Sasidharan, who described the mechanism of the brain’s stress response.
Understanding Stress and Pleasure in the Brain
Srinivasan studied the brain’s reward systems, the Nucleus Accumbens and VTA, which are in charge of pleasure, and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which controls stress. This information prompted an idea: since there is a switch for tension, why not make one for enjoyment or for reducing stress?
He went on to debate this idea with specialists including Dr. Josh Cain, a neurologist from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Dr. Neeti Kalyani, a post-doctoral researcher from Denmark. They investigated the technical viability of creating a non-invasive tool expressly designed to reduce stress together.
Development and Testing of Sputnik Brain
The creative concept was chosen for incubation at the Department of Biotechnology and IIT-Madras’ Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre. Srinivasan was able to create the first Sputnik Brain proof-of-concept thanks to this assistance.
Placing two fingers on the temples causes a geometrically focused array of transducers to generate low-intensity ultrasound, which is how Sputnik Brain operates. Users report immediate stress alleviation and pleasure within ten minutes. The gadget is presently being tested at NIMHANS, and in six months it should be available for purchase.
A Team of Experts and Visionaries
Abhiroop Gandhi, a former Google Life Sciences employee, Michael Viacheslavov, the former lab director of Neuralink, and physicians from NIMHANS are among the esteemed professionals and consultants on Sputnik Brain’s team. Srinivasan has received recognition for his work as the youngest grantee in the United Nations Development Programme’s YCL and as an Emergent Ventures Fellow. In addition, he belongs to Sigma Squared.
Srinivasan placed among the top three winners of Samsung’s CSR project “Solve for Tomorrow” in India in 2022. His success earned him a grant and a six-month incubation period at the IIT Delhi Foundation for Innovation & Technology Transfer, which enabled him to improve his prototype and look for Sputnik Brain’s actual validation in the real world.
Future Plans and Market Expansion
Initially, to verify the device’s legitimacy and efficacy, Srinivasan intends to compile clinical efficacy data and testimonies from physicians and psychiatrists. In collaboration with clinics and medical experts, Sputnik Brain will be unveiled as a wellness tool for reducing depression that will be paid for on an as-needed basis.
With an eye towards the future, Srinivasan wants to take Sputnik Brain outside of India and into US marketplaces and colleges. The business has already filed for US incorporation and intends to apply for FDA approval as a novel device.
Final Thoughts
Sputnik Brain is a major technological advancement in stress management, providing a non-invasive, chemical-free remedy for a common problem. Sputnik Brain has the potential to be a game-changer in the wellness sector because of Shankar Srinivasan’s fresh perspective and unwavering commitment to mental health.
