Georgia Tech Grads Create At-Home Sleep Apnea Patch

One in four adults has sleep apnea, but up to 80 percent never find out, leaving them five times more likely to die of heart disease. Now a simple Band-Aid-like patch could save thousands of lives.

Chris Lee, a Georgia Tech biomedical engineering graduate, co-founded Huxley Medical with two fellow alumni to tackle this massive diagnostic gap. Their device, called SANSA, measures nine different body signals while patients sleep at home, helping doctors spot both sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease at once.

The process couldn't be simpler. The patch arrives at your door, sticks to your chest, and automatically uploads data to the cloud. No sleep lab appointment, no complicated equipment, no hassle.

"We're able to detect diseases faster in a very consumer-friendly manner," Lee said. "More or less, you just wear it and you're done."

More than 30,000 patients have already used the device, with plans to reach many more by year's end. For Lee, every single person diagnosed represents a life potentially saved from heart disease.

The company's success stems from connections made during Georgia Tech's TI:GER program, which pairs engineering Ph.D. students with MBA students to turn research into real-world businesses. Lee joined in 2010, drawn by the chance to see his lab work help actual patients.

"TI:GER gives you direct insight, resources, mentorship, and a network to be able to do that," Lee said. The relationships he built stuck around too. His co-founders, Brett Klosterhoff and Brennan Torstrick, are also TI:GER graduates who worked at Georgia Tech's bioengineering institute.

Even Lee's mentor from the program 16 years ago now sits on Huxley Medical's board. That network helped Lee successfully launch and sell two previous medical device companies before starting Huxley.

The Ripple Effect

Sleep apnea's health impacts extend far beyond poor sleep. Untreated patients face dramatically higher risks of heart attacks, strokes, and early death. By making diagnosis this accessible, SANSA could prevent thousands of cardiovascular deaths each year.

The device also addresses a major healthcare inequality. Traditional sleep studies require expensive overnight lab visits that many patients can't access due to cost, location, or scheduling barriers. A home patch democratizes potentially life-saving diagnosis.

For Lee, the math is personal. "I can't think of a higher calling than coming up with innovations that can improve the health or extend the life of people around the world," he said.

His advice to young researchers mirrors his own path: use the tools available to build something meaningful. Georgia Tech gave him the network and skills to transform lab research into a device now helping tens of thousands.

Sometimes the biggest medical breakthroughs come in the smallest packages.