Boston Micromachines partners with Indiana University to develop adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope

Watertown, MA--Boston Micromachines, a provider of MEMS-based deformable mirror products for adaptive optics systems, has been awarded a $750,000 Phase II Small Business Innovation Research Grant from the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health.

The grant will enable Boston Micromachines and its research partner, the School of Optometry at Indiana University (Bloomington, IN), to develop an instrument that will enable high-resolution retinal imaging of 95% of the population, providing significant advancement in the research and diagnose of eye diseases in the elderly. The system will include a MEMS deformable mirror and an adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope.

Tissue-induced wavefront aberration cause image distortions which make it difficult to obtain a clear view of the human retina. Because of the large aberrations in aging eyes, the difficulty is compounded, making the diagnosis and treatment of eye disease in the elderly quite complex.

"As the first instrument to provide the combination of high resolution and high amplitude wavefront correction using a single deformable mirror, this new system will have tremendous implications for our elderly population, whose aging eyes have more aberrations and suffer from debilitating eye diseases," said Paul Bierden president of Boston Micromachines.