Our LUMO device was taken along to Green Man festival, where researchers from the University of Cambridge successfully collected data from 160 participants!

We use near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to obtain maps of functional brain activity. Infrared light is shone into the head and is scattered by brain tissue, and the change in intensity of the detected light is used to determine the concentration of brain molecules such as oxy and deoxy-haemoglobin (oxygenation) and cytochrome-c-oxidase (metabolism). These two biomarkers together give a good indication as to whether the brain is functioning correctly and are correlated with general brain health.

We chose to attend Green Man festival both to share the technology our lab is developing with the public to engage with them about brain science and as it presented a unique opportunity to collect vast amounts of data. Normally, we would struggle to get a few volunteers a month, but in the four days we were at the festival we collected data from 160 participants!

The fact that we managed to get our brain imaging systems working in a field with no mains power is incredible, and the team worked tirelessly to fit the brain imaging caps, scan the head of each participant, and operate the imaging systems to deliver these data sets.