Hamztec wins $1M grant to research an end to hair pulling

Wednesday, September 1, 2010 | Source: Concentrate

Ann Arbor-based Hamztec has received a $1 million grant from the National Institute of Health. The company plans to use the proceeds for development of a product that will help people stop compulsively pulling their hair.

The Ann Arbor SPARK client will use the grant to hire six people plus a handful of independent contractors. David Perlman, co-founder of Hamztec and its only employee, expects his start-up to commercialize its product within 2.5 years, a timeframe that could be as short as one year if the company attracts more investment.

Hamztec was co-founded in 2007 by David Perlman and Joseph Himle, a professor of psychiatry and social work at the University of Michigan. The firm's principal product tracks and helps correct Trichotillomania, a disorder in which people compulsively pull out their own hair.

"Ninety percent of this behavior happens out of consciousness," Perlman says. "They would study or read a book, get up and there is a pile of hair there and they don't know how it got there."

The product will track hand movement and set off an alarm when patients pull their hair. A specific code must then be entered to turn the alarm off. This technology also tracks and logs the behavior for analysis by mental health professionals.

'This is the first method so a therapist knows behavior outside of the office," Perlman says.

Source: David Perlman, co-founder of Hamztec
Writer: Jon Zemke