Announcing Genesis Program’s Investment in Health Monitor

Welcome Abhishek Pratapa and his health monitor to the Genesis Program portfolio. Abhishek is working on Health Monitor, a device that quickly detects unhealthy and potentially harmful bacteria levels in a room and alerts users through mobile notifications.

The Problem

Every day a person spends tons of time indoors and bacteria in any of these environments can cause health issues such as “respiratory effects, headaches and other physical symptoms”. Today there are several smart sensors that aid users in regulating air quality in their home or office to limit these types of health issues. The most feature rich is the Awair which is all about helping the user understand what’s in their air and providing personalized recommendations through their companion app. A direct competitor to the Awair is the Eve Room which leverages the Apple HomeKit developer platform to offer seamless integration with Apple devices. Both devices measure CO2 and volatile organic compounds but neither measure bacteria levels. The Health Monitor utilizes the same sensors and will report the same data as the Awair and Eve Room and it will measure bacteria levels.

The Founder: Abhishek Pratapa

Abhishek Pratapa is a double major in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science graduating this May. He has worked on similar software projects, including designing Internet of Things (IoT) devices and embedded systems. He participated as a main member of a student team project from the University of Texas called FreePulse which was “an award-winning low-cost patient monitor focused on improving global health.”

Developing the Health Monitor is meaningful to Abhishek as his personal health is sensitive to bacteria and mold levels. This causes him to frequently assess room air quality and make conservative decisions to leave areas and change plans. He wants to enable others like him the ability to quickly asses their environment and make an educated decision about what to do next.

Health Monitor

The Health Monitor will collect information about room air quality through its temperature, humidity, particulate and volatile organic compound sensors and feed them into an artificial neural network software model. The neural network will enable the monitor to detect bacteria levels and alert users when these levels are unsafe and to take action.

Currently the Health Monitor is in its initial prototype phase as initial construction, testing and development of the neural network software model are all underway.

Why I Led The Deal

Abhishek has demonstrated a commitment and interest in making the Health Monitor to improve his quality of life and others like him who are effected by high levels of bacteria. His coachable attitude and previous success with similar embedded system projects made the Health Monitor a perfect opportunity for the Genesis Program.

I look forward to working with Abhishek as he works on his own to conduct testing and create a proof-of-concept.

The Genesis Program helps students turn their ideas into reality by providing access to funding and mentorship. We are a student-run fund that invests in ventures at the University of Texas at Austin