Next-generation Brillouin ocular scanner

This project will develop a new-generation Brillouin Optical Scanner System (BOSSTM) with dramatic improvements in speed, accuracy and sensitivity compared with the first commercial-grade product by Intelon Optics, to unlock the potential of Brillouin technology for multiple ophthalmology applications. The need for ocular biomechanics measurements is well established in multiple high-impact applications (e.g., corneal ectasia, corneal and cataract surgeries, myopia and glaucoma) and significant efforts have been devoted to developing instruments for this task. However, current ocular biomechanics technology has demonstrated low sensitivity to detect clinically relevant features. Intelon has secured exclusive and comprehensive intellectual property (IP) rights to emerging Brillouin technology, a non-contacting optical technique that can uniquely create local maps of the ocular tissue “elastic modulus” at high resolution in vivo, and has applied that IP in the first commercial-grade Brillouin system (BOSS GEN II) for ocular biomechanics. At various sites around the world, the GEN II device has demonstrated the safety and repeatability of Brillouin scanning in vivo in patients and control subjects. And yet, the GEN II lacks sufficient measurement sensitivity, as it does not consistently show corneal differences between controls and patients with keratoconus (KC), even in moderate cases. With multiple technological breakthroughs, Dr. Scarcelli at the University of Maryland (UMD) has created a Brillouin research benchtop instrument that has enabled, for the first time ever, the clear differentiation of not only mild-to-moderate KC, but subclinical KC from normal corneas. Therefore, the objective of this project is to translate the UMD technology into a novel BOSS device to drive research-level performance in a commercially feasible, state-of-the-art clinical device. The Stage-1 goal of the project is to investigate the integration of technical solutions in optical coherence tomography and atomic vapor frequency calibration into the hardware backbone of the current BOSS GEN II device, to match the benchtop instrument specifications in speed, axial tracking and sensitivity. Stage 2 of the project has two specific aims: 1) to implement the findings from Stage 1 to develop BOSS beta prototypes with improved design, software and manufacturability, at a reduced cost, ready for commercial launch; and 2) to validate the prototypes’ sensitivity, repeatability and speed through clinical testing. A validated Brillouin clinical instrument is expected to benefit patients by providing clinicians with indispensable biomechanical information to guide the diagnosis, treatment and management of a number of high-volume ocular conditions.