Can brain scans become the next blood test to track health?

While we spend a lot of time focused on physical health, 1 in 3 people will face a neurological or mental health issue during their lifetime. Many people experience burnout and brain fog, and most cognitive decline is silent and undetected until it's too late.

Connectome is a Swiss and UK-based neurotechnology company focused on making cognitive wellbeing measurable, actionable, and accessible to the public. I spoke to Lucas Scherdel (CEO and co-founder) and Juliet Sharkey (Head of Growth) to learn more. 

Scherdel is a neuroscientist by training. He detailed:

"Today, there's no easy way for consumers to access functional brain insights. We wanted to solve that. We've been building momentum for eight to nine months now and have just filed a patent."

How to Connectome works

Connectome Health combines the latest in cloud computing and hardware (neuroimaging and wearable) with neuroscience and machine learning. 

The brain assessment service utilises functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a novel non-invasive neuroimaging technology, to measure with millisecond and millimetre precision how oxygenated blood flows through the cortex (the brain's upper surface). 

You can think of it as flying a drone over a city to spot where the traffic flows fastest and brightest, all without entering the city or disrupting anything.

Using this technology, Connectome unveils the brain's "routing architecture", a personalised map revealing how information flows across an individual's cortex and how these unique flow patterns shape cognition in each individual.

At the heart of Connectome is a portable neuroimaging device that uses functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) — a safe, non-invasive method of measuring real-time brain activity.

During a 30-minute session, users complete interactive tasks while the device captures how their brain's networks activate and connect. The resulting brain scan is processed using our proprietary AI pipeline to generate a unique cognitive profile.

Connectome enables people to understand and optimise their brain health through a non-invasive neuroimaging scan, which measures real-time brain activity and helps users track mental performance over time and catch early signs of decline before symptoms appear.

Through active monitoring, it becomes possible to observe how your brain changes over time and help identify potential roadblocks and actionable interventions to overcome them.

A corresponding app delivers personalised insights to improve focus, memory, mental wellbeing, and long-term cognitive health. 

According to Sharkey, it's like a "check engine" light for your brain, similar to what wearables have done for physical health.

"But we use brain-based data and lifestyle factors to help people keep their brain as healthy as possible, for as long as possible."

Connectome is building infrastructure to make its brain scan data clinically actionable, supporting better research, diagnostics, and long-term care. 

Scherdel detailed:

"Our goal is to empower individuals to use their data as they choose, while integrating clinicians into the process as soon as possible.

Ultimately, we aim to plug directly into health systems and secure clinical market authorisation, making brain scans as routine and accessible as blood tests."

Who is Connectome for?

In its initial stages, Connectome is targeting three key markets: 

• High performers and biohackers: People who already track their physical health and want to optimise brain health and productivity.
• People who are concerned with cognitive decline: These individuals are often older and seek to prevent neurological issues, requiring tailored advice rather than generic recommendations.
• Individuals with or suspected of having ADHD: According to Sharkey, many people in this category are self-diagnosed and looking for better ways to manage and understand their minds.

Can the scans detect disorders?

Connectome hasn't completed full clinical device registration, but its solution has been validated in clinical studies and can accurately identify Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and brain atrophy. 

While the company is currently focused on performance and wellness indicators, such as cognitive function, memory, mental well-being, stress, and recovery, it also aims to offer preventive and diagnostic capabilities for age-related brain conditions.

That said, the app is designed to emphasise positive, actionable outcomes. For example, Scherdel explained, "instead of flagging "decline," we frame it as "room to improve cognitive health." 

Connectome has built a recommendation engine that's attached to each indicator. It gives personalised, actionable advice based on your lifestyle — diet, exercise, sleep, activity, supplements, and neuromodulation tools.

Sharkey explained; 

"Over time, we'll refine the engine with more data to improve the accuracy of the recommendations to empower people to help themselves before resorting to pharmaceuticals or crisis intervention.

In the future, for the clinical version, we'd like to say, "This drug doesn't work for your demographic—we see that in the data. But this one might." That's the dream."

How often would someone utilise Connectome scanning?

Scherdel contends that the company aims to create the "blood test for your brain." 

"It's a panel, and your brain changes over time. So, really, this is a lifetime routine. Especially if your primary interest is longevity, you're looking for trends in your brain."

However, frequency also depends on the use case. In particular, with the brain — which differs from blood biomarkers — people want to see the impact of their actions in a shorter time frame.

Scherdel explained, "Your brain is more plastic than blood biomarkers, for example. So people want to see every month, "Okay, I did this thing, I took this supplement or a language lesson or training. Has it improved my cognitive flexibility?"

There's a growing influx of neuromodulatory technologies. Connectome envisions a world where we'll partner with those in the future to make them better, and give consumers the power to see if they're working or not.

Growing interest within the scientific community 

Connectome's work has attracted significant interest from the scientific community. Its partnered with Imperial College London, where it is running a clinical cohort that anyone can join. It also collaborates with the University of Zurich to reduce AI bias.

While currently focused on the scanning business, Scherdel contends that the real foundation is the robust IP which powers the entire platform. 

"That IP has the potential to build a data infrastructure that significantly advances brain research.

That's our long game: to create a clinically structured database that accelerates the development of new therapies and diagnostics for brain disorders and mental health. From day one, our data is designed with clinical applications in mind.

We'll empower consumers to use their data as they see fit, and bring clinicians into the loop as early as possible. Ultimately, our goal is to secure market authorisation for clinical indications and plug directly into health systems, making brain scans a routine part of preventive care."

Connectome is building the world's largest longitudinal brain dataset, aiming to advance the understanding of brain health and develop new preventive therapies for neurological disorders.

Scherdel explained:

"Companies developing brain-targeted technologies—from startups to pharma giants are eager to collaborate with us, particularly in the search for reliable biomarkers for conditions like Alzheimer's."

The company aims to build a proprietary brain health database from the ground up.

People can sign up for the beta launch, which will roll out during the summer of 2025. 

Lead image: Brainscan helmet. Photo: Connectome.