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In development at the University of Southern California (USC) and the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) following recent $7.8m funding, the medical device is also aimed at monitoring and automatically treating dry eye disease (DED).
Known as Personalized Automated Continuous Treatment for Eye Plus Systemic Disease (Pace+) and funded by the Oculab programme at the US Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (Arpa-H), the project aims to use tears as a diagnostic fluid. The liquid contains many of the same biomarkers as blood but is easier to collect, and can track diseases with less of a burden on patients.
“Many people don’t realise how much information is in our tears. Because we can collect this information non-invasively and in real time, it can help personalise the approach to managing and treating a number of health conditions,” said project leader Mark S Humayun, director of the USC Dr Allen and Charlotte Ginsburg Institute for Biomedical Therapeutics.
Affecting more than 20 million people in the US, DED occurs when tears do not adequately lubricate the eyes, causing dryness, pain and inflammation. Diagnosing and treating DED involves periodic testing and daily eye drops, which many patients find uncomfortable, inconvenient or difficult to adjust when symptoms change.
The team intends to build an implant the size of a grain of rice, which would be placed through a small existing opening in the eyelid at the corner of the eye in a quick, painless procedure. A chip inside the implant would measure tear biomarkers linked to DED symptoms and send the data to the patient’s smartphone. The phone would then automatically dispatch medication as needed through a second small device, tucked between the eye and lower lid.
The researchers face several technical challenges, a USC announcement said. Because biomarker levels in tears are typically lower than in blood, the system will need to be highly sensitive. The team also aims to extend the typical biosensor lifespan of days or weeks to up to six months.
Power and data transfer will also be difficult with such a small device. The system could be powered using a biofuel cell using an energy source from the human body, or near-field communication, which would wirelessly supply power from a nearby device.
“This has never been done before, anywhere in the world,” Humayun said. “It’s a moonshot, but it could give us a far better way to monitor and manage some of the world’s most common and serious diseases.”
Over the next 18 months, the researchers will focus on engineering and validating the system. This will include demonstrating that the sensor can accurately measure DED biomarkers, confirming that the system can be safely positioned around the eye and conducting early tests in preclinical models.
Beyond DED, the team will also explore whether the system can reliably measure depression-related biomarkers, including serotonin. The technology could eventually also be used for detecting and monitoring breast cancer, prostate cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, infertility and a number of other conditions with known tear-based biomarkers.
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