Brain Health as Mainstream as an Eye Test with Lucas Scherdel, Connectome Health

What if diagnosing depression was as simple as a 15-minute brain scan, no questionnaires, no guesswork, just objective data?

That's exactly what Lucas Scherdel and his team at Connectome Health are building.

In this episode, Lucas breaks down how their TD-fNIRS technology reads brain activity non-invasively using near-infrared light, how AI turns that raw signal into stable biomarkers, and why the absence of any objective brain test for mental health conditions is one of the most under-discussed problems in medicine today.

We also get into the regulatory and investor catch-22 that slows MedTech innovationand Lucas's vision for a world where brain health checks are as routine as visiting the optician.

If you work in MedTech, digital health, neuroscience, or you're just curious about where mental healthcare is headed, this one is worth your time.

Timestamp:

00:00 – Opening hook: Lucas's vision for mainstream brain sensing

01:33 – Rod's intro and welcome

02:29 – What is Connectome Health?

02:58 – Lucas's background: biomedical sciences, Bayer, WHO

06:48 – How Lucas ended up founding Connectome

10:34 – What does "Connectome" mean?

11:00 – TD-fNIRS explained in layman's terms

12:50 – Why scalable brain measurement has been so hard

16:14 – What does the hardware actually look like?

17:38 – Brain-computer interfaces and the future of prosthetics

19:08 – Challenges: regulatory, manufacturing, scaling

19:37 – Connectome as a software company (platform dependency risk)

22:24 – The inference application layer

23:20 – Business model explained: B2B research tools → future B2C

24:48 – Regulatory landscape and reception from the scientific community

25:17 – Imperial College London healthy population study

26:16 – The investor-regulator catch-22 in MedTech

27:44 – First product: functional brain performance testing

29:34 – Where is mental health tracking headed in 10–15 years?

31:57 – Wrap-up and how to find Lucas (connectome.health / LinkedIn)