UArizona engineer leads $1M project to fight vision loss

UArizona engineer leads $1M project to fight vision lossBiomedical engineering and optical sciences professor DK Kang is developing a way to diagnose and treat corneal ulcers that ' s eight times cheaper and 20 times faster than today ' s gold standard. Emily Dieckman Today College of EngineeringDK Lab_klh9669-Gallery.jpg Dongkyun"DK" Kang, a biomedical engineering and optical sciences assistant professor at UArizona, was developing a smartphone confocal microscope to diagnose cancer in rural settings when a researcher on the other side of the world reached out to see if his the same technology could be used to diagnose corneal ulcers. Kris Hanning/University of Arizona Health SciencesHealthAdaptationCollege of EngineeringCompassionExpertsExploration Media contact(s)Emily Dieckman College of Engineeringedieckman@email.arizona.edu520-621-1992760-981-8808Eye infections are common in rural farming communities. A scratch on the cornea caused during agricultural work can get infected and turn into a scar, then an ulcer. These corneal ulcers cause blindness and visual impairment in 4.3 million people worldwide every year, according to data published by The Lancet Global Health.Existing methods for diagnosing these ulcers can be costly, invasive and time consuming, and they ' re not always accessible for those living in rural areas.A University of Arizona researcher is working on an alternative: a portable device that he ' s creating with support from a $1 million...
Source: The University of Arizona: Health - Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Source Type: research