109 Design, a Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, startup that created a compliance and feedback monitoring system that can be attached to a scoliosis brace, has been awarded $100,000 from the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute (YEI) Innovation Fund. The award will allow the company to begin manufacturing the device, which attaches to scoliosis braces to provide real-time feedback to physicians, parents, and patients on brace wear time and tightness. The money will also support the further development of online and iPhone apps to process the data produced by the devices.
“It’s so important to be able to see the data every day,” said Ellen Su, who cofounded 109 Design with Levi DeLuke and Sebastian Monzon. “Currently you don’t see the data until three months later. We think this device and app will help kids be more engaged in their own treatment.”
The team is also talking about how their device and software might be adapted to track other health conditions. “Our device is well-suited to track anything physical-orientation, motion, speed,” DeLuke said. “Doctors can take that data and match it with clinical needs.”
A story about 109 Design and the AIS monitoring device will be in the December issue of The O&P EDGE.
