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From Home Furnishing Business
Eight, Online Mattress Retailer Adds Members to Scientific Advisory Board
August 10,
2018 by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Industry 
Sleep technology startup Eight has announced the expansion of its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). The new SAB members will serve as strategic partners in guiding the direction of Eight's growing research and scientific programs.
New Board Members include Dr. Robert Stickgold, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and director at the Center for Sleep and Cognition, Dr. Craig Heller, professor of biology at Stanford, Dr. Philip Gehrman, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, and Dr. Brian B. Koo, director of the Yale Center for Restless Legs Syndrome. The members join Dr. David Rapoport, who has advised Eight since 2014. Dr. Rapoport is a professor of medicine, pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at Mount Sinai.
Researchers and scientists have been a part of the company since the beginning, but this latest expansion brings on new faces in a more formal board setting.
"Science and research are at the core of sleep improvement and health," said Matteo Franceschetti, co-founder and CEO. "With our Scientific Advisory Board, we look forward to deepening ties with the best clinicians, researchers and leading experts at every step of our technological progression."
Board members will serve as a resource to Eight in matters such as data analysis, research development and communication of findings. An example already underway is Dr. Koo's collaboration with the company's research team as they study how Restless Legs Syndrome affects sleep quality among users.
The company’s Eight Smart Mattress uses high-tech sensors that are embedded in the mattress to detect and track bio signals throughout the night. It then delivers users a comprehensive sleep report the following morning, including time slept, percentage of REM sleep and heart rate.
To date, Eight has tracked over 2.5 million nights of sleep, collected over 200 billion sleep data points and processed 500 terabytes of data from more than 20,000 users. According to Dr. Heller, the seamless tracking of such information through Eight's technology, "provides an unprecedented set of data for research on sleep across large cross sections of the population."