Projects

Project Description:

Glaucoma, a leading cause of irreversible blindness, disproportionately affects low- and middle-income countries. Several factors contribute to vision loss, including lack of access to care, late-stage diagnosis, nonadherence to treatment, and inconsistent follow-up. Symptom progression is generally unnoticeable, requiring constant monitoring and long-term management. Intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement is a primary means of monitoring glaucoma since IOP reduction is the only means to prevent glaucomatous vision loss. Patients are currently reliant on periodic ophthalmologist visits to measure IOP, which prevents patients from properly monitoring their chronic condition and hinders ophthalmologists from making timely, informed treatment decisions. OcuSound is an accurate, noninvasive tonometer that uses sound waves and the acoustic properties of the eye for self-monitoring of IOP. Designed for patient at-home use, this low-cost, intuitive device enables glaucoma patients to conveniently track a key metric in glaucoma care, increasing disease awareness and timely follow-up care to prevent glaucomatous vision loss.

Project Photo:

The team logo spells out “OcuSound” where a blue eye represents the letter “O”, highlighting the project goal: monitoring intraocular pressure (IOP). The image illustrates a person using the OcuSound acoustic tonometer, which consists of an ergonomic handle, elliptical body, and black eye-piece for comfortable daily IOP measurement.

Student Team Members

• Valerie Wong (Team Leader)
• Ben Miller
• Emily Lee
• Ashish Nalla
• Maria Giannakopoulos
• Nancy Yan
• Elliot Leow
• Ivan-Alexander Kroumov

Course Faculty

• Nicholas Durr, Ph.D

Project Mentors, Sponsors, and Partners

• Ian Pitha, MD, PhD
• Kunal Parikh, PhD
• Jasdeep Sabharwal, MD, PhD
• Swati Upadhyaya, DOMS, DNB
• Neha Rajan