Thermocuff has several patents and expects FDA approval at the end of the year. Image via thermocuff.com

A great idea can strike anytime — and for Sam Sabbahi, his concept cooked up six years ago while defrosting a chicken for his son’s dinner.

Sabbahi, a physical therapist by trade, knew there had to be a better way to heat and cool common joint injuries — elevating the traditional way of using ice or heat packs.

“In the field, we were always getting people coming in trying to get us to purchase different medical devices and we wondered, ‘who knows what we need better than we do?’” he says. “A patient asked me ‘what a cold pack does’ and I was thinking in my head that a cold pack just cools the skin to three millimeters depth.”

Sabbahi then developed and invented a portable convection-based heating and cooling system device that could be used for joint injury rehabilitation – the device, dubbed Thermocuff, works much in the way that an air fryer circulates the air to get an even temperature.

“It just clicked for me like a light. You know what people say,” he says. “I just got the idea and thought ‘let’s just try this out and see if it would work.”

The device uses air that goes over top of the thermoelectric unit and cycles in a closed loop system. After some proof concept testing, Sabbahi determined that Thermocuff could cool a joint more than twice as quick as the traditional water circulating system that’s currently available on the market now.

The attached tablet connects through Bluetooth to the unit, which allows the patient to increase or decrease the temperature and adjust for heating or cooling.

“You're trying to get the range of motion back,” he says. “We are addressing pain and range of motion now – trying to reduce the swelling inside of a joint to help in function.”

Because the disposable cuff kind of looks like a Chinese finger trap, Sabbahi says it’s not something that you could just make a mold of and then mass produce.

Fast forward to today, Sabbahi and his team of eight have acquired four patents in the U.S., Canada, China and Japan and are waiting on Europe and Mexico.

The team is working toward FDA approval at the end of the year. Thermocuff also has received a grant from the U.S. military. The device is part of the Southwest Pediatric Medical Device Consortium and received grants for production and research from the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium, which helps startups in the medical field source grants.

The team is targeting business to business, physical therapy clinics, universities, and sports training associations with the hope to move into the consumer market in the coming years.

“We all have ideas is the hardest part, is trying to figure out how to turn your idea into actual product,” he says. “It's fun, actually — kind of like a big puzzle. You know, you're trying to get all, find all the pieces and put them together.”

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Mark Cuban calls AI ‘the greater democratizer’ for young entrepreneurs

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Texas billionaire Mark Cuban—whose investment portfolio includes Houston-based Holliball, a startup that makes and sells large inflatable holiday ornaments—believes AI is leveling the playing field for budding low-income entrepreneurs.

At the recent Clover x Shark Tank Summit in Las Vegas, the Shark Tank alum called AI “the greater democratizer.”

Cuban told Axios that free and low-cost AI tools enable disadvantaged teenagers to compete with seasoned professionals.

“Right now, if you’re a 14- to 18-year-old and you’re in not-so-good circumstances, you have access to the best professors and the best consultants,” Cuban said. “It allows people who otherwise would not have access to any resources to have access to the best resources in real time. You can compete with anybody.”

While Cuban believes AI is “the great democratizer” for low-income young people, low-income workers still face hurdles in navigating the AI landscape, according to Public Works Partners, an urban planning and consulting firm. The firm says access to AI among low-income workers may be limited due to cost, insufficient digital literacy and infrastructure gaps.

“Without adequate resources and training, these workers may struggle to adapt to AI-driven workplaces or access the educational opportunities necessary to acquire new skills,” Public Works Partners said.

Texas 2036, a public policy organization focused on the state’s future, reported in January AI jobs in Texas are projected to grow 27 percent over the next decade. The number 2036 refers to the year when Texas will celebrate its bicentennial.

As for the current state of AI, Cuban said he doesn’t think the economy is witnessing an AI bubble comparable to the dot-com bubble, which lasted from 1998 to 2000.

“The difference is, the improvement in technology basically slowed to a trickle,” Cuban said of the dot-com era. “We’re nowhere near the improvement in technology slowing to a trickle in AI.”

CPRIT hires MD Anderson official as chief cancer prevention officer

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The Austin-based Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, which provides funding for cancer research across the state, has hired Ruth Rechis as its chief prevention officer. She comes to CPRIT from Houston’s University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she led the Cancer Prevention and Control Platform.

Before joining MD Anderson, Rechis was a member of the executive leadership team at the Livestrong Foundation, an Austin-based nonprofit that supports people affected by cancer.

“Ruth has widespread connections throughout the cancer prevention community, both in Texas and across the nation,” CPRIT CEO Kristen Doyle said in a news release. “She is a long-term passionate supporter of CPRIT, and she is very familiar with our process, programs, and commitment to transparency. Ruth is a terrific addition to the team here at CPRIT.”

Rechis said that by collaborating with researchers, policymakers, public health leaders and community partners, CPRIT “can continue to drive forward proven prevention strategies that improve health outcomes, lower long-term costs, and create healthier futures for all.”

At MD Anderson, Rechis and her team worked with more than 100 organizations in Texas to bolster cancer prevention initiatives at clinics and community-based organizations.

Rechis is a longtime survivor of Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects the lymph nodes, which are part of a person’s immune system.