Iannis Kominis | University of Crete; Ioanna Demeridou, PhD; Emmanouela Crhysafi, BSc
Competition Sponsor: EIT Health of the European Union
Awardee Year: 2022
Pupillometry is the measurement of the pupil’s diameter as a function of time upon changes in the light illumination of the eye. All commercial pupillometers work with LED light, and usually stimulate the whole eye with a broad beam of light. We have developed the first laser pupillometer which provides for the first time for a spatially selective stimulus of the retina. Since the pupil diameter changes are regulated by mid-brain neural circuits, our pupillometer can access individual neural pathways, whereas current pupillometers offer an average response of many such pathways. With the precision in light stimulus and the precise measurement of the pupil’s diameter we have achieved, and thus the ten-fold or hundred-fold increase of information we extract from the measurements, we can realistically expect to be able to offer for the first time early diagnosis for a number of pathologies, like glaucoma and the Alzheimer’s disease.
To learn more about this proposal, email healthylongevity@nas.edu.