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Junction 2026 · Healthcare Track

49 teams

Beyond the Clinic

by Aalto University

Build the product that helps people stay well at home after depression treatment, using anything from natural stimuli to a phone, music, games, light or AI.

Introduction

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is used in hospitals and clinics to treat people with severe depression. The treatment usually requires multiple brief daily visits for brain stimulation. Even if the treatment is successful, there is a risk that depression returns. Therefore, we would like to have “maintenance” treatment at home.

The Challenge

In the hospital, you can obtain blood samples, get brain scans with fMRI, MEG or EEG, and be consulted by a psychiatrist. At home you don’t have these, except for an occasional remote psychotherapy meeting, and that is also difficult or expensive. But brain activity and mental condition at home can be measured in several ways. No good solution has yet been developed for maintenance treatment at home, and that is the challenge.

Home-based maintenance treatment could also be “closed-loop”, meaning that it is individualised based on how the brain of the patient reacts to the interventions. In other words, your product can work as a loop: sense how someone is doing, respond with something that helps, and learn what works best for that person.

Insight

Who You Can Design For

  • People after TMS treatment, who want to keep feeling well once the daily hospital visits end.

  • Anyone at risk of depression, who could benefit from early, everyday support.

  • Clinicians, who want to follow how their patients are doing between visits without adding to their workload.

Ideas to Get You Started

You don’t need special hardware. A laptop and a phone are enough to build something great.

What Could Help People Stay Well

  • Cleverly designed sensory stimulation (auditory, visual, touch, smell, taste), for example music or rhythmic lights or colours.

  • Social interaction, meditation, yoga and physical exercise.

  • Regular visits to forests or to the sea, or experiencing them in VR when going out is hard.

  • Computer games, such as that of Soihtu.

How to Sense How Someone Is Doing at Home

  • The mobile phone can measure sounds, voice, movement (acceleration), facial expressions, sleep and daily routines.

  • Wearables such as smart rings can measure heart signals (HRV), sleep, activity and changes in the autonomic nervous system, a very important indicator of mental state.

  • Many other sensors and technologies exist, or can be invented.

Product Directions We’d Love to See

  • Everyday companion: a phone or AI check-in that notices changes over time and suggests the right thing at the right moment.

  • Sensory experience: music, light or VR that adapts to how the person is doing that day.

  • Game: something fun to play daily that also supports mood and wellbeing.

  • Smart home: lights and sound that gently change through the day.

  • Social: a way for friends or peers to stay close and reach out when it matters.

  • Clinician view: a simple way for professionals to see who might need a call.

For inspiration, look at Meru Health and other companies developing ways to alleviate depression.

Mentors and Contact

Researchers from Prof. Risto Ilmoniemi and Prof. Pantelis Lioumis’ group (Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering), plus support from Aalto Innovation.

Main contact: Myungji (MJ) Suh

Resources

Resources and Support

  • Published research and open data: pointers to published studies and openly available datasets you can build on.
  • Expert mentors: researchers who know brain stimulation, depression treatment and how the brain can be measured.

Demos Subject to Confirmation With the Lab

  • A live brain stimulation demo: see TMS in action and how a magnetic pulse can activate the brain.
  • Brainwaves in real time: a portable EEG demo at the booth, so you can see what brain activity looks like.