Kernel
Making Brain Quantification Mainstream

The brain is unarguably the most critical organ in the human anatomy. Even before we leave the womb, our brain works throughout to control the body’s vital functioning and helps us understand and interact with the world around us. From communication to creativity, memory to messaging, balance to breathing, sleep to sensory function, it acts as the control and command center for almost every voluntary and involuntary human actions. For the very same reason, it is important to understand the intricate neuroscience behavior that keeps the brain going. Set against this backdrop is Kernel, a full-stack neurotech company that helps in quantifying the power of human brain. The company creates the interfaces and insights necessary to unearth new opportunities by establishing a steady connection between the inner working of the human brain and mind.

Kernel was founded in 2016 by Bryan Johnson with the aim to perceive, interface, and improve the brain’s power through technology. The company’s team of proficient engineers, physicists, and neuroscientists built two new revolutionary non-invasive brain interfaces that enable measuring the mind as easy as your heartbeat—Kernel Flow and Flux. In short, they brought in a technological revolution at every level of quantifying the brains capability–starting from chip design to optics, control software to ML and experimental designing and analysis. “What’s measured is improved, and Kernel is making brain measurement mainstream,” says Johnson.

To that end, Kernel has two main products–Flux and Flow that helps it explore the unseen potential of brain. A non-invasive brain interface, Kernel Flow is one of the first commercially scalable time-domain near-infrared spectroscopy (TD-fNIRS) system in the neurotech market.The solution records cortical hemodynamics in real time to establish precise patterns of the brain activity. Embedded with over a thousand source-detector pairs, Kernel Flow covers the entire brain interface via USB-C and responds to a wavelength ranging from 690nm to 850nm and a sampling frequency of 500 mHz. In addition to TD-fNRIS, the solution also helps to monitor fNIRS and HD-DOT. The combination of these three aspects help medical practitioners to determine accurately cognitive load Frontal fNIRS Activity and Performance, mental ageing, multi-tasking and focus, and the likes of it. Besides, the solution also solves real-life creative problems at the behest of fNIRS based hyperscanning study. Moreover, Kernel Flow also assesses cerebrovascular dysfunctions after traumatic brain injury via fMRI and fNIRS procedures. The near-infrared spectroscopy recognizes pain responses and attenuates the pain stimuli with fNIRS signals.

The company’s yet another stellar product is Kernal Flux that lets individuals to be in their comfortable environment, with a natural head motion and subsequently determines their brain activity at the speed of neurons travelling in real time across the entire cortex area. A turnkey magnetoencephalography (MEG) platform, Flux is based on optically-pumped magnetometers (OPMs) that provide access to the intricate brain activity underlying functions such as arousal, emotion, attention, memory, and learning during their time of occurrence. To that end, Flux operates with 720 sensor channels and reflects a bandwidth of 200 mHz. The MCG solution offers targeted reinforcement of neural oscillatory activity with real-time neroimaging feedback. It also brings to attention the neural dynamics of attentional selection in natural scenes and is known to establish hypersynchrony between senses irrespective of reduced beta oscillations.

With innovation at its core, Kernel is making making brain and mind measurement mainstream to unravel new opportunities for learning, performance enhancement, and mental optimization. In that regard, the company is looking forward to include aspects of video gaming into mental optimization and enhance the aspects of groundbreaking neurotechnology.