Improved Biomarker Detection for Eye Disease with CaSE-OCT

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) are vision-threatening eye diseases, which affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Early diagnosis and treatment of AMD and DR are critical for preventing blindness. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is widely used by eye doctors to observe the health of the eye. OCT makes 3D images with high resolution. Unfortunately, OCT is not yet able to observe certain features of these diseases, which could help to identify them sooner. With this project, we want to solve these limitations by using a new technique called contrast- and stimulation-enhanced OCT (CaSE-OCT). Contrast-enhanced means that we will use a so-called contrast agent to improve the OCT signal. In this case we will use fat particles as the contrast agent to help us see diseased blood vessels in the eye more clearly. When injected into the blood stream, fat particles safely increase the signal of blood vessels so that they are easier to see. Stimulation- enhanced means that we will use flashing lights to stimulate the eye. When healthy eyes see flashing lights, they react by changing blood flow. By measuring this reaction, we can better measure eye health. We believe CaSE-OCT will help measure blood vessels more accurately and find unhealthy blood vessels more easily than existing methods. After developing these new techniques, we will study AMD and DR in mice and rats. We will use CaSE-OCT to observe changes in the rodent eyes multiple times as they get older. This will allow us to find the most important features of these diseases. This information can then potentially help eye doctors to detect these diseases and start treatment earlier. Additionally, a clinical study will investigate the possibility of bringing these methods to humans for the first time. Finally, we will use CaSE-OCT data to train an artificial intelligence to further improve OCT measurements of blood vessels. The principal investigator is Conrad Merkle, PhD, who has over 7 years of experience developing contrast-enhanced OCT methods and performing small animal imaging. He is supported by a team of experts including Bernhard Baumann, PhD, Gerhard Garhöfer, MD, Georg Langs, PhD, and Martin Glösmann, PhD. This project will also fund two PhD students.