{"674719":{"#nid":"674719","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Family Loss Brings About Medical Breakthrough","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe call from his mom is still vivid 20 years later. Moments this big and this devastating can define lives, and for \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.me.gatech.edu\/faculty\/yeo\u0022\u003EHong Yeo\u003C\/a\u003E, today a Georgia Tech mechanical engineer, this call certainly did. Yeo was a 21-year-old in college studying car design when his mom called to tell him his father had died in his sleep. A heart attack claimed the life of the 49-year-old high school English teacher who had no history of heart trouble and no signs of his growing health threat. For the family, it was a crushing blow that altered each of their paths.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt was an uncertain time for all of us,\u201d said Yeo. \u201cThis loss changed my focus.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Yeo, thoughts and dreams of designing cars for Hyundai in Korea turned instead toward medicine. The shock of his father going from no signs of illness to gone forever developed into a quest for medical answers that might keep other families from experiencing the pain and loss his family did \u2014 or at least making it less likely to happen.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYeo\u2019s own research and schooling in college pointed out a big problem when it comes to issues with sleep and how our bodies\u2019 systems perform \u2014 data. He became determined to invent a way to give medical doctors better information that would allow them to spot a problem like his father\u2019s before it became life-threatening.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHis answer: a type of wearable sleep data system. Now very close to being commercially available, Yeo\u2019s device comes after years of working on the materials and electronics for an easy-to-wear, comfortable mask that can gather data about sleep over multiple days or even weeks, allowing doctors to catch sporadic heart problems or other issues. Different from some of the bulky devices with straps and cords currently available for at-home heart monitoring, it offers the bonuses of ease of use and comfort, ensuring little to no alteration to users\u2019 bedtime routine or wear. This means researchers can collect data from sleep patterns that are as close to normal sleep as possible.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMost of the time now, gathering sleep data means the patient must come to a lab or hospital for sleep monitoring. Of course, it\u2019s less comfortable than home, and the devices patients must wear make it even less so. Also, the process is expensive, so it\u2019s rare to get multiple nights of data,\u201d says Audrey Duarte, University of Texas human memory researcher.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDuarte has been working with Yeo on this system for more than 10 years. She says there are so many mental and physical health outcomes tied to sleep that good, long-term data has the potential to have tremendous impact.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe results we\u2019ve seen are incredibly encouraging, related to many things \u2014from heart issues to areas I study more closely like memory and Alzheimer\u2019s,\u201d said Duarte.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYeo\u2019s device may not have caught the arrhythmia that caused his father\u2019s heart attack, but nights or weeks of data would have made effective medical intervention much more likely.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInspired by his own family\u2019s loss, Yeo\u2019s life\u2019s work has become a tool of hope for others.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen he was in college, Hong Yeo\u0027s father died in his sleep from a heart attack, and Yeo changed his academic and research efforts as a result. Now, he and his research collaborators have developed a device that monitors vital signs during sleep, and it\u0027s the type of thing that may have helped doctors intervene in his father\u0027s illness if it had been available. This Sleep Scan device is a type of mask you can easily take on and off, and it has now been tested with human subjects and is close to being available commercially.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Family tragedy changed Hong Yeo\u2019s life, with his new direction leading to a new potentially lifesaving medical device."}],"uid":"36174","created_gmt":"2024-05-14 18:51:07","changed_gmt":"2024-06-10 20:28:28","author":"Blair Meeks","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-05-14T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-05-14T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674015":{"id":"674015","type":"video","title":"Family Loss Brings About Medical Breakthrough","body":"\u003Cp\u003EWhen he was in college, Hong Yeo\u0027s father died in his sleep from a heart attack, and Yeo changed his academic and research efforts as a result. Now, he and his research collaborators have developed a device that monitors vital signs during sleep, and it\u0027s the type of thing that may have helped doctors intervene in his father\u0027s illness if it had been available. This Sleep Scan device is a type of mask you can easily take on and off, and it has now been tested with human subjects and is close to being available commercially.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1715781745","gmt_created":"2024-05-15 14:02:25","changed":"1715781745","gmt_changed":"2024-05-15 14:02:25","video":{"youtube_id":"vZX_NZCxezg","video_url":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/vZX_NZCxezg"}},"674008":{"id":"674008","type":"image","title":"Yonghyun Yeo","body":"\u003Cp\u003EHong Yeo\u2019s father, Yonghyun Yeo, with his mother in Korea.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1715716401","gmt_created":"2024-05-14 19:53:21","changed":"1715777504","gmt_changed":"2024-05-15 12:51:44","alt":"This is a picture of Hong Yeo\u0027s father and mother in Korea.","file":{"fid":"257471","name":"Hong Yeo father.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/14\/Hong%20Yeo%20father_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/14\/Hong%20Yeo%20father_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":2440599,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/05\/14\/Hong%20Yeo%20father_0.jpg?itok=6M2BUNNi"}},"674009":{"id":"674009","type":"image","title":"Taewoog Kang","body":"\u003Cp\u003ETaewoog Kang, a post-doctoral student in mechanical engineering, works to repair a tiny circuit in Hong Yeo\u2019s lab on Georgia Tech\u2019s campus.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1715716558","gmt_created":"2024-05-14 19:55:58","changed":"1715719772","gmt_changed":"2024-05-14 20:49:32","alt":"This is a picture of a post-doctoral student in Hong Yeo\u0027s lab working on one of the tiny circuits used in the device.","file":{"fid":"257472","name":"Hong Yeo lab.Taewoog Kang.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/14\/Hong%20Yeo%20lab.Taewoog%20Kang_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/14\/Hong%20Yeo%20lab.Taewoog%20Kang_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1197264,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/05\/14\/Hong%20Yeo%20lab.Taewoog%20Kang_0.jpg?itok=KgB7AkPW"}},"674010":{"id":"674010","type":"image","title":"Hong Yeo with Sleep Scan device","body":"\u003Cp\u003EHong Yeo shows off the latest version of his wearable sleep monitoring device.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","created":"1715716657","gmt_created":"2024-05-14 19:57:37","changed":"1715719743","gmt_changed":"2024-05-14 20:49:03","alt":"This is a picture of Hong Yeo holding the latest version of his wearable sleep monitoring device.","file":{"fid":"257473","name":"Hong Yeo with Sleep Scan.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/14\/Hong%20Yeo%20with%20Sleep%20Scan_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/05\/14\/Hong%20Yeo%20with%20Sleep%20Scan_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1452560,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/05\/14\/Hong%20Yeo%20with%20Sleep%20Scan_0.jpg?itok=xl-5cO9X"}}},"media_ids":["674015","674008","674009","674010"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/news\/2024\/03\/18\/real-time-heat-protection-device-being-tested-florida","title":" Real-Time Heat Protection Device Being Tested in Florida "},{"url":"https:\/\/news.gatech.edu\/news\/2023\/05\/24\/researchers-develop-wireless-monitoring-detect-sleep-apnea-home","title":" Researchers Develop Wireless Monitoring to Detect Sleep Apnea at Home "}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"138","name":"Biotechnology, Health, Bioengineering, Genetics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1613","name":"Biomedical Engieering"},{"id":"4460","name":"Medical Devices"},{"id":"193723","name":"Sleep Apnea"},{"id":"193724","name":"Memory Research"},{"id":"2832","name":"microelectronics"},{"id":"10454","name":"biosensors"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:Blair.Meeks@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EBlair Meeks\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInstitute Communications\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["Blair.Meeks@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}