How This Startup Became Academia’s Trusted Source Of Wearable Devices’ Health Biomarkers

While the trend toward amplified wellness has been developing for some time now, the widespread implications of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have brought consumers’ personal health straight into the spotlight of public consciousness. For some, this has meant adopting a strict workout regimen, while others have taken on new habits like wearing smartwatches and fitness trackers to keep an eye on important health criteria, including heart rate, blood oxygen level, and alerts for irregular heart rhythms.

Though reportedly more than 21 per cent of US adults regularly use data trackers such as these for wellness purposes, the majority of these users are completely unaware of the complete underutilization of the technology’s tracking capabilities. This data can provide insight into an individual’s unique biomarkers, and subsequently has the potential to make healthcare more personalized and more effective when put into the right hands. The possibilities of wearable devices in the future of healthcare are already palpable throughout the medical community, as studies published throughout the COVID-19 pandemic revealed wearable data trackers’ power to detect the virus up to 9 days early.

For Labfront, a technology biomarker startup trusted by top research and academic institutions, the answers to the most pressing personalized health care questions live in the data gathered from innovative digital devices. Taking this information and decoding the hidden indications of these digital biomarkers through expertise and the aid of machine learning, Labfront’s innovative approach looks to unlock each of its clients’ unique wellness requisites and ultimately lead people toward living healthier lives.

Founded by CEO Chris Peng in partnership with former university teammate Jordan Masys, Labfront has already begun shifting the paradigm of modern medical information, earning endorsements from Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Harvard University, awards from Techstars Global Startup Weekend, and recognition as the Top Innovation Fighting Covid-19 from the World Economic Forum. In fact, the Labfront team spun out of the runner-up XPRIZE Tricorder team. Labfront’s expertise in digital biomarkers is a melange of Peng’s and Masys’s innovative foresight as well as the direct expertise of Dr. Ahn, Co-Director of the Center for Dynamical Biomarkers, a lab at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard.

This is far from Peng and Masys’ first foray into the healthcare space; the duo previously built and launched Ethiopia’s first 911 ambulance system together, and later built the health data tracking tool NEO at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic to help consumers track the health of their fellow family members.

To accomplish its lofty goals, Labfront utilizes the best of modern machine learning and artificial intelligence to help analyze medical data for institutions and patients through streamlined ‘no-code’ tools. Rather than simply track and provide data, Labfront’s aim is to give its users the power to understand their personal information in a simplified manner, which subsequently allows for a higher standard of care and targeted solutions to patients’ unique health requisites.

After years of meticulous development, Labfront’s core software launched in 2021 to provide researchers with CRM-esque management capabilities and flexible data capture systems to put the power of digital biomarkers to use in health research. This has wider applications into wearable technology like smartwatches and other forms of remote technology, allowing for a continual acquisition of data that’s key to Labfront’s health-democratizing ethos. While only the first step in Labfront’s vision, the AI-based analytics engine is anticipated to be a major backbone in Labfront’s quest to improve the overall understanding of the health of its users – and ultimately, improve the health of humanity.

Already finding a place for use in the globe’s leading research and academic institutions, Labfront’s innovative technology helps lower the cost for researchers throughout their projects, while also equipping them with the means to interpret this data from the get-go and increase efficiency. This has been particularly important for Peng, who is looking to empower young researchers – much like his former colleagues – with Labfront to help take their projects to the next level, regardless of funding limitations.

As the quest toward a post-Covid reality continues to forge on, companies like Peng and Masys’ Labfront are paving the way toward a new era of modern health, tackling healthcare’s inherent issues head-on with machine learning, artificial intelligence, and above all, a humanitarian moral mission.