Society Winter Signature Symposium examines the next era of health tracking
Society for Science hosts Signature Symposium events throughout the year to have conversations about emerging technologies and inventions from our own distinguished alumni.
For the winter Signature Symposium, Maya Ajmera, President and CEO of Society for Science and Executive Publisher of Science News, spoke with John Capodilupo (STS 2010), Co-Founder of WHOOP and Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Throne. Both companies focus on preventive health and wellness technologies, built to track key health indicators. Maya and John dove deep into the scientific background that it took for these technologies to be accessible to the public.
After competing in the Science Talent Search his senior year with an astrophysics project, John headed to Harvard. There he met Will Ahmed and decided to leave his undergraduate studies to co-found health tech company WHOOP.
“The idea of capturing biometric data continuously sounded like a really cool project,” John says.
WHOOP is a wearable technology that monitors a user’s unique physiology, tracking biomarkers such as hormones, heart rate, menstrual cycles and blood pressure. These insights align with WHOOP’s mission to enhance human performance and lifespan. WHOOP was initially designed for professional athletes in mind, from basketball players and swimmers to golfers and tennis aficionados. By tracking physiological data, WHOOP helps athletes optimize training, improve their sleep patterns, and manage challenges such as jet lag, enabling peak performance.
After 10 years at WHOOP, John ventured into another health-monitoring technology called Throne, which is focused on capturing gut and hydration metrics.
Having experienced ulcerative colitis, John’s curiosity in this technology was personal.
“If we could analyze stool and urine every day and get that same longitudinal data, we could really transform our understanding and help manage these diseases better,” John says. Throne is a device that can be easily attached to a user’s toilet and uses a special camera for capturing stool and hydration images. Audio capturing tracks urinary flow rate, which is important for monitoring prostate health.
Using what’s called a Bristol Stool Scale, Throne takes images over time to see what’s going on with a user’s gut health. Data and information are sent through the Throne app, and a user learns what is going on with their gut and hydration health from the privacy of their homes.
John says gastroenterologists or GI doctors don’t have much data when it comes to stool samples. Working with University of Chicago researchers with data sets to learn more about gut health, diet and any other diseases that can be studied using advanced image analysis and spectroscopy of stool.
“The guiding principle with Throne was that we wanted it to be noninvasive because patients, people and consumers don’t want to touch stool,” John says. “With microbiome at home testing, I think it’s around a 60% completion rate.”
Throne is not out yet, but interested consumers are able to pre-order starting this month. Version one is used for general wellness purposes, including gut health scoring and hydration scoring, John says. It’s intended for everyone but should not be considered a medical device. The idea is that users can track their data to make dietary adjustments or if there is a concerning trend, discuss it with a medical practitioner.
Looking ahead, Maya asked John what he sees as the next major development in at-home health monitoring.
“I think the big trend in the next 10 years that excites me is no more surprise diagnoses,” John says. “With a plethora of technologies and processes that allow everybody to be healthier and be more proactive in their health journeys, it boils down to no more surprises, and those answers come from more data.”
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