Here we consider how connecting Mentalab’s Explore device with LabChart Lightning from ADInstruments increases market access for Mentalab and adds wireless recording capability to LabChart Lightning, bringing benefits for thousands of research scientists across the world.
Overview
Dr. Sebastian Herberger (MD) is the Founder and CEO of Mentalab. Mentalab’s Explore device is one of the most flexible research-grade mobile ExG biosignal sensors in the market today.
To accompany their hardware, Mentalab has created an open-source software that requires basic coding skills. In order to help more researchers and clinicians take advantage of the superior signal quality, the Explore device needed integration with high-quality analysis software.
LabChart Lightning, ADInstruments’ new data acquisition and analysis software, quickly became the stand-out choice.
It provides a seamless out-of-the box analysis experience for researchers who are running experiments, and superior analytical tools while being easy to use.
By partnering, both ADInstruments and Mentalab benefit commercially: ADInstruments uses its substantial worldwide reach to promote and support Mentalab’s Explore device, and Mentalab’s innovative ExG device is a valuable addition to the solutions that ADInstruments are able to promote to researchers.
Mentalab
It was a chance meeting at a scientific conference that first sparked a conversation about collaboration between Brandon Bucher, Head of Research at ADInstruments, and Dr. Sebastian Herberger from bio-sensor startup Mentalab.
Sebastian, who has a background in cardiology and sleep medicine, had observed that most medical research devices were large, cumbersome, and difficult to use.
He notes, “Hospital research equipment was designed for specialists, for robustness, and for complicated user scenarios. It was never intuitive, usually bulky, and rarely fun to use.”
The mission was to develop a better mobile bio-signal sensor. It had to be as easy to use as the modern wireless technology in our everyday lives, and as precise as the high-end sensors confined to labs and hospitals.
To do this, he founded a startup called Mentalab, and created the Explore device – a mobile bio-sensor for high-quality ExG, movement and environmental data that overcomes the physical and data-related constraints of existing solutions.
The goal of Mentalab is to generate true value for researchers using our devices. We make and develop biosensor solutions that enable new paradigms and allow users to explore new frontiers. That is exactly what Mentalab Explore does.
Dr. Sebastian Herberger, CEO
LabChart Lightning
Meanwhile, Brandon Bucher’s research team at ADInstruments was developing LabChart Lightning, an innovative data analysis software platform that was even more intuitive and flexible than their existing LabChart software.
A large part of their mission was to create tools to ensure that the software was compatible with any device that researchers chose to use for their research.
Brandon Bucher says, “We want to be able to offer any researcher the ability to integrate any device they are using with LabChart Lightning so they can analyze the signals they record with a high end software tool.”
Brandon knew that Mentalab’s Explore was a unique and clever piece of hardware as soon as he saw it. The signals that the Explore was recording were incredibly high quality and very clean. ADInstruments have a very strong and trusted reputation in the life science research sector and we want to be associated with high quality products and manufacturers. So we were interested in integrating Mentalab’s Explore device with LabChart Lightning.
Brandon Bucher, Head of Research at ADInstruments
Focusing on making the best product
The reason the Explore was such a high quality device was clear. Sebastian had gathered a talented team together and their mission had a singular goal. He says: “We just focused super hard on making the Explore the very best sensor it could possibly be.”
The team at Mentalab set about packing the highest quality bio-signal recording technology into a tiny mobile design.
The Explore biosensor is 4 x 4 cm and weighs less than an ounce. It provides up to 8 ExG channels (any combination of EOG, EEG, ECG/EKG, EMG, and more) at 24bit resolution with outstanding data quality, 9-axis movement sensors, and a raft of customizable features.
Data can be streamed via Bluetooth or stored on board. The tiny form factor makes it a truly wearable high-end bio-signal sensor, that can be used in any mobile scenario.
Mentalab’s Explore device allows high quality bio-signal recordings in a variety of settings, ranging from Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) to sleep studies, online or offline, including any desired mix of electrophysiology signals with movement and positional data.
It is ideal for neuro and cognitive research, Brain Computer Interfaces (traditional or hybrid), or applications in fields such as psychology, cardiology, or physiology.
Hardware needs software
For their application software, the team at Mentalab built 3 open-source APIs for the Explore device, including a Python toolbox called explorepy.
While these are open source and free to use, they are limited in functionality and can be difficult to use for people without good computer or programming skills.
Sebastian knew that in order to be truly valuable and widely used, the Explore device really needed to integrate with a high-quality analysis software that was already in use by researchers. That’s where the chance meeting at the conference was fortuitous for both parties.
ADInstruments’ LabChart Lightning stood out to Sebastian for its focus on user friendliness, quality, and functionality.
A natural synergy
Sebastian says, “We quickly saw how coupling the Explore to LabChart Lightning software would really take the user experience to another level. We could see that LabChart Lightning will be the new industry standard for biosignal data acquisition and analysis: It can integrate with existing hardware products, and through its rich functions and easy usability it makes the life of high-end researchers much better.”
Mentalab’s mission is to make the data acquisition process for the user as flexible, efficient, and beneficial as possible. And LabChart Lightning aims to do the same with its analysis tools and features. So, for us, that was perfect synergy.
Sebastian Herberger, CEO
Commercial benefits
Aside from the compatibility of the products and core values, there were important commercial benefits for both Mentalab and ADInstruments.
As the first wireless sensor that is completely integrated with Labchart Lightning, Mentalab’s Explore device offers ADInstruments a seamless out-of-the box solution for the easy acquisition of precise biosignal data — a valuable solution for researchers.
Mentalab’s Marketing Director, Eduard Deneke, realized the commercial potential in aligning with ADInstruments. He says,
ADInstruments is a world-wide market leader in high-end research equipment deeply connected with the global research community. They have a global customer base, with whom they keep close relationships, as well as a deep understanding of their applications and needs.
Eduard Deneke, Marketing Director
Increased global reach and market presence
Of the collaboration, Eduard says, “For us it’s a big opportunity. Now we have a whole marketing plan on the table which is very exciting! It’s been a very productive process and we’ve learned a lot. It also helped us get ready for what we might have otherwise not been able to do on the same scale.
“We know that we have a very good product but we currently have a very small and select circle of customers. Aligning with ADInstruments takes us to a global scale. It’s a company that’s been around for 30 plus years and is known and trusted by leaders in the field of research that we want to serve. The collaboration provides us with global reach and market presence.”
A mutually beneficial partnership
As individual products, both ADI’s LabChart Lightning and Mentalab Explore are already at the fore-front of innovation in research software and hardware.
Yet, through the partnership of the two companies, the products become even more accessible and useful to researchers around the world.
The synergies, if used together, by far exceed the value of the individual products, which makes a perfect basis for an exciting future collaboration. Learn more about the integration process here.
