Research instrumentation · Bench prototype stage
Engineering new tools for brain-clearance research.
NeuroClearance is developing research instrumentation to investigate the physiology behind brain fluid transport and waste clearance. Our first priority is to build and independently verify a measurement and control platform for reproducible studies with scientific and clinical collaborators. The science is explained in an open library; the implementation stays private until results are ready for review.
Why this question matters
The brain has its own clearance pathway, and it is still hard to study.
In 2012 researchers described a brain-wide pathway in which cerebrospinal fluid moves through brain tissue and carries waste out. In 2019, imaging of sleeping people showed coupled neural, blood-volume and cerebrospinal-fluid oscillations during non-REM sleep. How clearance is best measured, and how much sleep and other conditions change it, remains an active and openly debated question in the field.
Most of that work still needs equipment that only a few laboratories own. Instruments that are precise, inexpensive and reproducible would let more groups ask the same questions and check one another’s answers.
These figures describe the scale of the need. They are not a statement of NeuroClearance’s market, and nothing we build is a treatment.
Research objective
A measurement and control platform that other laboratories can run and repeat.
Can the conditions be controlled and measured?
How do the physiological conditions linked to brain fluid transport respond to controlled, independently measured changes, and can those responses be recorded reproducibly enough for other laboratories to repeat them?
Supervised laboratory research
Work with scientific and clinical collaborators. Bench characterization first, non-human testing next. Any study involving people needs its own scientific, ethical and regulatory review, and none is under way.
Built to be checked by someone who was not in the room
Every controlled quantity is measured by an instrument independent of the one controlling it. A separate safety function can stop the system on its own authority. Every run is logged so an outside reviewer can reconstruct it. Reports state repeatability, uncertainty and limits.
Scope of the first platform
The first platform controls and measures the conditions of an experiment. Whether its readings relate to brain clearance is a question for collaborators’ studies to answer, and we will describe that capability only when it has been demonstrated and independently reviewed. Mechanism, component selection, operating ranges and system architecture stay private until results are ready for review. How we work →
Evidence and milestones
What is done, what is under way, and what comes next.
Each entry names the artifact that proves it or the exit criterion that will. Labels show where each statement comes from.
External literature NeuroClearance record NeuroClearance bench result Research hypothesis
- Completed · 2025 – September 2026
Literature synthesis and safety concept
Artifact: the 18-article library with primary sources, and an internal safety concept held in the program’s configuration record. NeuroClearance record
- Completed · late September 2026
Components received
Artifact: receipt and inventory record for the first bench configuration. NeuroClearance record
- Completed · October 9, 2026
Public site and library launched
Artifact: neuroclearance.com, with 18 explainers, each carrying its sources and review date. NeuroClearance record
- Under way · since late September 2026
Bench assembly and integration
Exit criterion: an integration record identifying the configuration, and a finished prototype specification. NeuroClearance record
- Next
Measurement characterization
Exit criterion: a repeatability, calibration and timing report for stated conditions. An approved summary is published here; detailed methods stay private. NeuroClearance bench result
- Then
Independent verification, integrated non-human testing, research readiness
Each stage gets its own outside reviewer, written report and review status before we describe it as done. Research hypothesis
Assembly shows that a system exists; it says nothing about biological performance. Talks and advisor conversations are visibility, not validation. Full roadmap →
The people building it
Founder-led, with named roles and an open list of what we still need.
David Sherrer
Founder and program lead
Accountable for technical direction, program decisions and every public statement on this site. Founded Nuvotronics, which carried PolyStrata® microfabrication from a DARPA program to certified production and was acquired by Cubic Corporation in 2019; earlier founded Haleos and ACT MicroDevices in optoelectronic packaging. Named inventor on more than 100 issued and pending patents (self-reported count).
- Engineering supportNuvoNexus and MacroVation engineering teams: assembly, test fixtures and quality systems.
- CounselOutside regulatory counsel and outside patent counsel.
- AI collaboratorsDrafting, analysis and software under the founder’s direction; a person checks sources and signs off on every public statement. Editorial standards
- Scientific advisorsNone appointed yet. Advisors are listed only with written consent, and an advisory role is not validation of the system.
- Recruiting nowA metrology or controls reviewer and a physiology or clinical-methods reviewer. Open research needs
Track record refers to the founder’s prior companies and is not a claim about NeuroClearance results.
Work with NeuroClearance
Two routes, each with a clear next step.
Investors
A public brief covers the thesis, the current stage, the intended research value, the founder’s verified history and the next financed milestone. Deeper materials follow a fit conversation under agreement.
Read the investor briefScientific and clinical collaborators
Three open research needs, each with a defined first contribution:
- A calibration, timing and uncertainty plan for the bench configuration
- An endpoint and alternative-explanations review for later studies
- Regulatory and study-design input for the research-readiness stage
We design for rigorous evidence, patient safety and broad access, with a sustainable commercialization model. Our commitments →
Learn and follow progress
Start with three explainers, then follow the bench.
What is brain clearance?
The pathway described in 2012, what sleep has to do with it, and what remains debated.
Read → FrontiersRecent advances, 2023 to 2026
Disease-modifying Alzheimer’s drugs, the first blood test, and a large negative trial every reader should know about.
Read → Reading guideHow to read brain-health evidence
Five questions to ask of any claim, including ours.
Read →Status synchronized with MNEOS; investor brief and team page published
Components for the first bench configuration arrived in late September and assembly has begun. The next milestone is measurement characterization.