How Synsal Hopes to Provide Comprehensive COVID-19 Testing and Allow Individuals to Monetize Their Data
By Angie Gallagher
In this series, we feature the stories of the companies that are using the BurstIQ platform to further their mission of providing new and innovative health-tech solutions for patients around the world. Today we had the pleasure of talking with Ned Saleh, founder of Synsal, Inc.
According to Ned Saleh, two of the biggest problems the world faces today are “wellness and poverty”. Today, it seems as though the international effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted both wellness and poverty on extreme levels. As of now, over 10 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with Coronavirus. In the U.S., the unemployment rate spiked to over 13% in April 2020.
Learn how Ned Saleh and Synsal are tackling both of these issues.
Who is Ned Saleh?
Ned Saleh received his doctorate degree in Nuclear Engineering at the University of Michigan. While at UofM, Saleh was able to assist his advisor, Professor Gerard Mourou, in winning the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018. Additionally, Saleh’s work on the laser system earned him a spot in the Guinness World Record book.
Post doctorate, Ned spent time working in Silicon Valley for Intel, IBM and KLA. Saleh then made the pivotal decision to turn down a lucrative opportunity at Apple to seek seed funding to build a prototype. He was able to raise $3.5M to develop a prototype that today can be used in testing for COVID-19.
How is Synsal, Inc. Impacting the Current Health Crisis?
One of the early issues with the COVID-19 pandemic was a lack of testing supplies and proper equipment. As both the government and private industries try to manifest solutions for these issues, Synsal has developed a technological solution that will allow people to test themselves for both COVID-19 and the antibodies for the virus, either in the comfort of their own home or at kiosks across the country.
Instead of the data automatically being distributed to hospitals or federal organizations, it is completely owned by the individual. The technology also allows those individuals to keep their data updated, and monetize it if they so wish.
With the Synsal prototype, users partake in a sort of ‘reward’ system while gaining valuable knowledge. It is a gamification process when it comes to their own personal health: They administer the test, get the results, collect useful data and note any patterns or changes, and are then able to do what they want with that data — including selling it for profit to researchers or agencies.
This process encourages users to repeat the test periodically, in order to ensure their data is accurate and up-to-date. More data means more opportunities for monetization. In short, this prototype could provide the first commercial manifestation of universal income.
Working With BurstIQ
The BIQ platform can be used to bring the vision of this prototype to life, using blockchain technology. In working with BurstIQ, Synsal’s product can be used in every household across the globe, and become as “informal” and normal as email. Leveraging BurstIQ’s platform, security measures, and data storage, this prototype can easily become something everyone can benefit from on a mass scale.
Had a prototype like this been implemented on a platform like BIQ before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it could have saved countless lives and trillions of dollars, worldwide. While the death toll from this virus continues to rise, Synsal’s prototype helps to encourage hope for the future. Viruses and other dangerous ailments will always continue to exist, but using technology and data can help to reduce the spread, keep people safe and healthy, and eliminate the need to spend trillions of dollars on healthcare as the medical industry tries to play “catch up” for people who have already contracted the disease.
Better healthcare has always been about better technology. Synsal’s underlying mission is to be “horizontally disruptive” in healthcare, by breaking through some of the norms and advancing technology for the people. As a result, things like virus testing can become more common in the home, and people can have more control over their own data, rather than handing it over automatically. It puts people back in control of their own health, promoting wellness education and data collection worldwide.
