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The goal of CorneaSense is to develop a diagnostic technology for accurate assessment and improved, precision management of corneal health. Many diseases and injuries of the cornea (outer most layer of the eye) are associated with abnormal changes in the cornea’s water content. Current clinical standards to assess corneal water content are limited to thickness measurements of the central cornea under the assumption that the cornea must expand to make room for increased water. In other words, water content is inferred from thickness and not measured directly. This practice suffers from two key limitations (1) thickness measurements do not account for the significant population variation in corneal thickness thus thickness measurements are, at best, a screening tool. (2) By the time corneal water content becomes apparent via visual assessment or thickness measurements, its often too late to efficiently treat or even save the tissue. Conversely, accurate quantification 

The CorneaSense project leverages a decade of corneal measurements at millimeter wave. We have developed a method whereby minute changes in corneal tissue water content are quantified via observation of millimeter wave propagation it bounces around inside the cornea. The features of these echoes are characterized by the cornea’s parameters and careful measurement allows us to provide detection of disease, via confirmation of increased tissue water, much earlier than any existing technology. This will result in conserved sight and improved patient outcomes.

This project will leverage the existing science and funds will be used to create a real time instrument to be used in pilot patient trials.