UCL Great Ormond Street to adapt Siloton eye‑imaging system for paediatric use
Researchers at the University College London (UCL) Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health are teaming up with Bristol-based start-up Siloton on a project that could help prevent sight loss in children by adapting a new eye imaging technology.
With funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health has secured one of Siloton’s optical coherence tomography (OCT) systems, which will be modified for use by children.
OCT is a safe imaging method that uses light to create detailed pictures of the inside of the eye, helping clinicians identify a range of health conditions and monitor their progress. However, its use is limited because existing systems are large, expensive, and typically only available in hospitals and optometry centres.
Through the project, Professor Ameenat Lola Solebo and Professor Marinko Sarunic, both from UCL, will co-develop a new version of the compact, quantum-enabled anterior segment OCT device with Siloton, allowing children with potentially blinding disorders to be monitored in the community or even from home.
Siloton’s Akepa device compresses a tabletop-worth of heavy, expensive, and fragile components onto a single chip smaller than a £1 coin. It has been designed to work as part of an easy-to-use, binocular-style system that makes the diagnosis and monitoring of a range of treatable retinal diseases more affordable and accessible. A first cohort of adult patients successfully trialled the technology last year.
The device’s lenses will be tuned to focus on the right place within children’s eyes, while the casing will be better shaped to their faces to prevent light from affecting the imaging process.
Alasdair Price, co-founder and CEO of Siloton, said: “Imaging children’s eyes presents different challenges, but the chip-based system we’ve developed could make it easier to capture high-quality images quickly and comfortably. Many of the pressures adults face apply to children too: getting to hospital, missing school, and needing appointments to be as smooth as possible.”
The system could reduce disruption for families and free up clinicians to spend more time on care, according to Price.
The Siloton eye-imaging technology was developed with backing from Innovate UK, the UK’s national innovation agency, helping turn a research-stage idea into a clinical device capable of detecting sight-threatening eye conditions earlier.
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