Together with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, a leading Scottish medical technology company, Optos plc, and Strathclyde University, Kent researchers will help develop a new laser technology which will be able to monitor the functions of cells in the eye.
This new technology is aimed at detecting and monitoring eye disease at a very early stage. The research will create a new device which will be at the forefront of the fight to detect early visual loss.
The team at the University, led by Professor Adrian Podoleanu in the School of Physical Sciences, will provide expertise on optical coherence tomography (OCT). This builds upon its extensive research activity on imaging the eye, including being the first to demonstrate a transversal OCT image of the eye on a human in 1997.
The first clinical studies will involve the leading causes of blindness (Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Glaucoma and Diabetic Retinopathy) and are due to be completed by early 2017.
The research has been awarded £1.1m from Innovate UK and Optos to develop the new imaging technology that could show eye disease earlier than current devices can.
A successful outcome will see a further £9m invested to develop a fully licensed medical device by the end of 2018.
For more information contact Katie Newton.