When Farid Manshaii ’24 began his college career at UCLA during the COVID-19 pandemic, he didn’t expect that the isolation of online classes would become the catalyst for his future entrepreneurial success.
But as he adjusted to remote learning, Manshaii discovered new ways to explore STEM, pushing his academic pursuit outside of his classes. By the time he returned to in-person studies in his second year, Manshaii’s UCLA career was taking shape, marked by a drive to address one of today’s most urgent health issues — nicotine addiction.
“Many people envision a standard ‘college experience,’ but I learned early on that each student shapes their own journey,” said Manshaii, who graduated with triple majors in neuroscience, psychology and bioengineering. “The flexibility of the remote environment taught me to adapt, innovate and carve out my own path.”
“This award is more than just a prize,” Farid Manshaii said. “It is a catalyst that empowers us to take the innovation we started at UCLA to the next level.”
That journey would lead Manshaii to meet fellow Bruin engineer Michael Bogumil ’19, M.S. ’24 — a doctoral candidate in bioengineering and biomedical engineering at the UCLA Samueli School Engineering. Together, they founded startup Recalivape Inc. and won the James Dyson Award National Prize in September for their design of AMSTAD — an adaptive vaporizer that uses machine learning and real-time biometrics to help individuals overcome nicotine addiction and track progress in a personalized way.
“This award is more than just a prize,” Manshaii said. “It is a catalyst that empowers us to take the innovation we started at UCLA to the next level.”
The decision to attend UCLA was a natural choice for Manshaii, who followed his mother’s footstep in becoming a Bruin engineer. But instead of majoring in computer science like his mother or civil engineering like his father from USC, Manshaii started his UCLA career as a neuroscience student before adding bioengineering and psychology majors. His academic trajectory proved central to his success, complemented by research experiences across multiple fields, beginning with visual memory studies and progressing to wearable bioelectronics in UCLA Samueli bioengineering associate professor Jun Chen’s research lab, the Bioelectronics Research Group.
One day in his sophomore year, a random conversation with a friend who was trying to quit vaping prompted Manshaii to investigate the limitations of traditional nicotine replacement therapies. Learning that e-cigarette users often face challenges due to high nicotine concentrations, Manshaii saw an opportunity to develop a device that could bridge this gap by using biometrics to adapt nicotine levels to individual needs.
He sought advice from Edythe London, a professor-in-residence of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences and molecular and medical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. London is a renowned expert in addiction science at the UCLA Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and the director of the UCLA Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology. With her guidance, Manshaii designed a study on reducing nicotine levels to ease withdrawal, a foundational step that reinforced his understanding of addiction science and paved the way to developing the prototype for AMSTAD.
At UCLA Samueli, Manshaii’s faculty advisor is bioengineering professor Dino Di Carlo, who offered insights from his own startup experience transforming ideas into solutions. Di Carlo also introduced Manshaii to Bogumil, one of his graduate students. That meeting flourished into a great partnership as the duo collaborated over many late nights and long commutes to and from LA.
Another faculty mentor, UCLA Samueli materials science and engineering professor Richard Kaner, shared advice on startup strategy and patenting — essential knowledge that helped Manshaii commercialize AMSTAD. Courses like Bioengineering 233A on Medtech Innovation taught by UCLA Samueli bioengineering distinguished professor Wentai Liu and molecular and medical pharmacology professor Hsian-Rong Tseng of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA also exposed him to leading industry professionals, one of whom would later join his company’s advisory board.
Drawing on his experience with adaptive devices, Manshaii envisioned an e-cigarette alternative that would monitor indicators like heart rate to help users reduce nicotine consumption. With Bogumil’s expertise in microfluidics, the pair transitioned AMSTAD’s design from a motor-based to a coil-based system to achieve a more efficient approach for delivering controlled nicotine levels. Despite two failed prototypes, Manshaii and Bogumil didn’t give up and continued to refine their design until they came up with a functioning prototype that offers improved sensor accuracy, leak prevention and energy efficiency.
Courtesy of Farid Manshaii
An AMSTAD prototype designed to help individuals overcome nicotine addiction and track progress in a personalized way
AMSTAD connects to a smartphone via Bluetooth for setup, with a corresponding app that creates a personalized profile by collecting initial data on vital signs, inhalation rate and nicotine consumption to establish a baseline. Once the baseline is set, AMSTAD gradually decreases nicotine concentration while maintaining flavor concentration. The device continuously monitors vitals during each vaping session to determine if dosage adjustments are necessary while the app allows users to gain insights from their data.
“Through these experiences, Michael and I learned the value of resilience and adaptability,” Manshaii said. “What began as a meeting to fill technical gaps grew into a partnership that has made the long hours and setbacks worthwhile, as we worked toward bringing a meaningful product to market.”
The $6,300 prize money from the Dyson Award will help Manshaii and Bogumil improve AMSTAD’s design, secure a nonprovisional patent and prepare the device for commercial release. With another iteration of the prototype underway, Manshaii is prepared to seek additional funding and ensure the device reaches those who need it most. In a YouTube video published by the Dyson Foundation, Manshaii and Bogumil describe their plans for the device.
Born and raised in Rancho Cucamonga, California, Manshaii was inspired from an early age by his parents’ technical knowledge and the resilience they modeled at home. His mother, who fled Vietnam just two days before the fall of Saigon, and his father, originally from Iran, fostered his curiosity and instilled in him the importance of problem-solving. By high school, Manshaii was building multiple science fair projects and fixing cell phones for friends.
For Manshaii, success lies in the impact he can make through his innovations, a belief inspired by his mentors and solidified through his experience at UCLA. As he looks to the future of AMSTAD, Manshaii envisions it to be more than just a product and that it will help reshape addiction treatment by adapting to individual needs. In addition to AMSTAD, he is developing an AI-driven news platform and a bioprinter aimed at making tissue engineering more accessible.
Manshaii says he hopes to leave a lasting legacy in public health and innovation, driven by a passion that began in childhood and grew with each milestone at UCLA.
“In the end, I hope to take the lessons that mentors have taught me, and continue to teach me, to become a better person and positively change society,” he said.