A new close-up for damaged retinas
A sensitive, laser-based eye test more rapidly determines whether a treatment for a retinal degenerative disease is working.
By Sarah Koziol
With approximately one in 2,000 people worldwide struggling with an inherited retinal degenerative disease that can lead to significant vision loss or complete blindness, Dr. Robert Cooper, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, is researching new uses of advanced imaging devices to improve diagnose and treatment.
Cooper’s novel research, funded by the Foundation Fighting Blindness, will assess photoreceptor degeneration at the individual cell level. Photoreceptors are special cells in the eye’s retina responsible for converting light into signals sent to the brain; they help us see color and night scenes. At the moment, the two best tools ophthalmologists have to examine the photoreceptors’ function are microperimetry, which requires the patient to indicate they saw a dot of light, and an electroretinogram, a device combining an electrode on a patient’s eye and a bright flashing light.
“It’s my hope that this will contribute to the restoration of vision for individuals with all kinds of acquired and congenital retinal diseases.”
“Besides being uncomfortable, both of these options have their limitations, which center around their ability to sensitively determine if the photoreceptors are functioning properly,” says Cooper, Eng ’09, Grad ’16. “My research uses a device called an adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmo-scope to image and examine the function of individual photoreceptors in these patients’ eyes, all without electrodes or long exams.”
This enhanced sensitivity is especially important for patients who don’t have a lot of remaining photoreceptors or for those going through clinical trials aimed at restoring the photoreceptors’ function, as standard tests simply aren’t sensitive enough to tell doctors whether their treatments are working until months later. Cooper’s method could allow clinicians to determine within weeks whether a treatment is working.
“The goal of my research is to help clinicians and patients have a better understanding of the function of their retinas, so that treatments and cures can be found faster than if they had been using less sensitive techniques,” Cooper says. “It’s my hope that this will contribute to the restoration of vision for individuals with all kinds of acquired and congenital retinal diseases.”
