SBIR-STTR Award

Patent applications have been filed to print digitized images of an iris of a good eye on a prosthetic contact lens to provide a natural appearance of a patient with a diseased or damaged eye. It could also provide therapeutic benefits to reduce photophobia from aniridia. In phase I the feasibility of the concept will be evaluated by developing inks that can be used on an inkjet printer and can be successfully bonded to the polymer surface of a lens. The success of this concept stage will be measured by: Ability to inkjet the newly developed inks to form digital images. Quality of digitized image in terms of color match and dots per inch resolution Bonding of digitized images to lens material through mechanical and chemical testing. Preliminary biocompatibility of lens through cytotoxicity and tissue irritation tests. Market implementation of this technology will allow printing of a digitized image of an iris of the good eye of a patient, with damaged or diseased eye, and transmitted through the internet from any part of the world, on a prosthetic lens. Thus providing a mirror images of iris of a good eye on a damaged eye. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: 1. Prosthetic lenses for medically damaged eyes. 2. Cosmetic colored lenses to change color of eyes. 3. Cosmetic colored lenses to enhance natural color of eyes. 4. Cosmetic colored lenses with custom designs.

Thesaurus Terms:
biomaterial development /preparation, computer graphics /printing, contact lens, digital imaging, eye prosthesis, image processing, iris, technology /technique development biomaterial compatibility, chemical bond bioimaging /biomedical imaging

U S Patent #6,315,410 is issued to print digitized images of an iris of a good eye on a prosthetic contact lens to provide a natural appearance of a of a patient with a diseased or damaged eye. It could also provide therapeutic benefits to reduce photophobia from aniridia. Further application of this innovation will provide the next generation of technology to produce cosmetic colored contact lenses which has a current global market of $260 million dollars and growing. Initial development work subsequent to patent approval has provided promising results. These results assure feasibility of inkjet printing directly on the convex lens surface with bondable and non-cytotoxic nonfading inks made with FDA approved colorants. During Phase II the major emphasis will be to: 1. Development of ink formulation to get optimum inkjet process and image quality 2. Develop prototype inkjet printer equipment, by modifying existing, commercially available inkjet printer, to print on lens or mold in a pilot scale manufacturing environment 3. Carry out necessary preclinical testing to get approval for clinical trials from IRB 4. Use commercially available color management system to produce desired color and images on the lens with four basic colors. Market implementation of this technology will allow printing of a digitized image of an iris of the good eye of a patient with a diseased or damaged eye, and transmitted through the internet from any part of the world, on a prosthetic lens, thus providing a mirror image of iris of a good eye on a damaged eye on a global basis.

Thesaurus Terms:
biomaterial development /preparation, computer graphics /printing, contact lens, digital imaging, eye prosthesis, image processing, iris, technology /technique development biomaterial compatibility, chemical bond bioimaging /biomedical imaging, laboratory rabbit