The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a device to monitor high eye pressure (intraocular pressure or IOP), the only known sign of glaucoma, which could cause vision loss and influence patients’ quality of life. Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness for people over 60 years old and affects approximately 3 million people in the USA. The incidence of glaucoma is expected to rise to 76 million by 2020 and 112 million people by 2040 worldwide. Unfortunately, glaucoma is not curable, but it is manageable with proper treatments. Although IOP is a highly dynamic parameter, conventional measurements fail to track it for a 24-hour period. A compact and portable wireless contact lens sensor (CLS) system can enable continuous, real-time monitoring of IOP and ensure clinical safety and patient comfort. This type of system could be adapted for other pressure measurements in other parts of the body as well.
This I-Corps project is based on the development of parity-time (PT) symmetry in quantum mechanics into radio-frequency (RF) telemetric sensing systems, enabling new ways to enhance resolution, accuracy, and sensitivity of versatile zero-power wireless pressure sensors (e.g., intraocular, intracranial and other biological pressures). Specifically, the team’s PT telemetry technologies employed an active loss-compensation circuit, which not only can compensate the power dissipation in minimally-invasive microsensors, but also allows a large shift of peak frequency under changes in vital physiological factors (i.e., a higher sensitivity), thanks to the eigenvalue bifurcation effect around the exceptional points found in PT systems. This wireless readout technology will be exploited to continuously record IOP levels from a biocompatible, monolithically microfabricated CLS, with enhanced sensitivity and resolvability. In addition, machine learning and signal processing algorithms will be exploited to address the long-term stability and signal drift issues in the practical IOP monitoring.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
