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Chen and Xia Secure Prestigious NIH Common Fund Venture Program Grant to Develop Groundbreaking Noninvasive Deep Tissue Imaging System

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UC Irvine Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic’s Drs. Zhongping Chen and Fei Xia have been selected as one of only four national research teams to receive the prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund Venture Program grant.

Their project, “Breaking the Scattering Barrier: Multimodal Noninvasive Deep Tissue Imaging Using Reflection Matrix Based Wavefront Shaping,” aims to develop revolutionary optical imaging technology capable of seeing deep inside living tissues with unprecedented resolution and depth.

Working in collaboration with Dr. Song Hu of Washington University and Dr. Guifang Li of University of Central Florida, Drs. Chen and Xia are developing a high-speed, multimodal deep tissue imaging system.  This innovative system integrates reflection matrix optical coherence tomography (RM-OCT) with wavefront shaping to overcome the fundamental limitations caused by light scattering in biological tissues.

By overcoming the fundamental scattering barrier of light, this technology will enable real-time, noninvasive visualization of dynamic biological processes. This breakthrough has broad applications in neuroscience, cancer research, and cardiovascular disease, and is poised to accelerate the development of new therapeutic approaches.

The NIH Common Fund Venture Program award provides $1.5 million annually over two years, with the potential for milestone-based funding in a third year. This award recognizes the team’s bold approach to creating practical, novel, and transformative technologies that can be rapidly applied in health-relevant applications.

The NIH Common Fund Venture Program specifically supports fast-paced, high-impact research that addresses critical biomedical challenges. The program embraces bold approaches and responds to the shared priorities of NIH Institutes, Centers, and the Office of the Director.

Click here to learn more about the NIH Common Fund Venture Program.

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute On Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number UG3DA065120. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

 

Shining light on trauma care

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UC Irvine laser scientists pioneer optical technologies to save lives on the battlefield and beyond

When someone suffers a devastating injury – whether from a roadside blast, a car accident or a house fire – seconds matter. Doctors need to know instantly what damage has been done and how best to treat it. At UC Irvine’s Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic, researchers are developing new tools to give physicians exactly that kind of real-time insight – using beams of light.

Thanks to a $7.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Air Force Office of Scientific Research, a team led by biomedical engineering professor Bernard Choi, acting BLI director, is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in trauma medicine. The three-year initiative, officially titled “Advanced Optical Technologies for Defense Trauma and Critical Care,” spans six interconnected projects. Together, they aim to bring light-based diagnostics and therapies out of the lab and into the hands of doctors treating the most urgent cases.

A 30-year evolution

The Defense Department’s investment in medical photonics isn’t new. It stretches back more than three decades, when BLI founder and seminal biological and laser researcher Michael Berns helped pioneer the Medical Free Electron Laser Program in the early 1990s. Originally focused on how high-powered lasers interacted with tissue, the program has since evolved into today’s Military Medical Photonics Program, with an emphasis on trauma and critical care.

What’s different now is the urgency and practicality. The projects under Choi’s leadership are designed not just for theoretical advances, but to solve “DoD-defined medical technology gaps” on the battlefield – needs that often mirror challenges in civilian hospitals.

Lighting the way in trauma medicine

The six projects under the current center grant cover a wide range of medical crises:

  • Airway injuries from smoke or toxic gas inhalation, where high-speed optical imaging can detect early signs of injury and monitor therapy deep in the airways.
  • Burns from thermal, radiation, and directed energy exposure, where light can help assess severity and guide very early treatment.
  • Hemorrhagic shock, a life-threatening condition when blood loss pushes the body toward collapse. Optical sensors could allow doctors to detect it before it becomes irreversible.
  • Lactate acid, a metabolic indicator of severity of injury, can be continuously monitored by a miniature light-based sensor to assess a patient’s condition, need for critical support and response to treatment.
  • Traumatic brain injury, where monitoring blood flow in the brain can inform lifesaving interventions.
  • Compartment syndrome, a painful swelling in the limbs after injury that can cut off circulation and seriously injure muscle function—detected noninvasively using light.
  • Compact field-deployable laser surgical device for debridement of complex soft tissue wounds.

“The goal is to give clinicians fast, accurate, and noninvasive ways to see what’s happening inside the body during trauma care,” Choi says. “That benefits not only military medicine but civilian patients as well.”

From lab to real life

Not all of these technologies are years away from application. Some are already making their way into hospitals. One standout is Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging, a technique that maps tissue health using patterns of projected light. SFDI has been commercialized through Modulim, a Costa Mesa-based medical technology company that grew directly out of Beckman Laser Institute research.

Today, Modulim’s devices are being used to monitor tissue health in patients with diabetes and vascular disease, helping prevent dangerous ulcers and amputations. It’s a prime example of how defense-funded research can translate into tools that improve everyday healthcare.

The bigger picture

For Choi and his team, the progress is steady and encouraging. “We keep making progress, and the Defense Health Agency seems to be pleased with our work,” he says.

Ultimately, the promise of optical technology is its ability to deliver quick, precise, and actionable data – without invasive procedures. Whether on the front lines of combat or in the emergency room of a community hospital, that information can mean the difference between life and death.

What started as an exploration of powerful lasers decades ago is now reshaping the future of trauma medicine. With continued support from the Department of Defense and partnerships with industry, UC Irvine’s scientists are proving that sometimes, the best way to heal is to shine a light.

Generative AI assisted in the writing of this story.

Click here to read full story on UC Irvine News.

UC Irvine Researcher Receives Grant to Combat Vision-Threatening Eye Disease

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Dr. Lilangi Ediriwickrema awarded K23 grant to develop breakthrough imaging technology for thyroid eye disease

Dr. Lilangi Ediriwickrema, a UCI Health ophthalmologist at Gavin Herbert Eye Institute, has been awarded a competitive K23 Mentored Patient‑Oriented Research Career Development Award from the National Eye Institute (NEI) to advance a novel imaging approach for thyroid eye disease (TED). Her project, “Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging to Investigate Mechanistic Constituents in Active Thyroid Eye Disease,” aims to transform how clinicians objectively assess disease activity and treatment response in this complex, vision‑threatening condition.

The project leverages Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging (SFDI), a noninvasive optical imaging technology developed at UC Irvine, to quantify tissue‑level vascular and structural changes associated with TED. The research integrates advanced biomedical optics with patient‑oriented clinical investigation, reflecting a strong collaboration between engineering innovation and ophthalmic care.

A Disease That Goes Beyond Vision

Thyroid eye disease affects an estimated 90 to 300 per 100,000 people globally, with some estimates suggesting up to half a million cases in the United States. Most commonly associated with Graves’ disease, TED occurs when the immune system attacks muscle and fat tissue behind the eyes, leading to painful inflammation, bulging of the eyes, blurred or double vision, and in severe cases, vision loss.

“Moderate to severe thyroid eye disease can also be socially stigmatizing, affecting patients well beyond their clinical symptoms,” explains Dr. Ediriwickrema, assistant professor in the UC Irvine School of Medicine Department of Ophthalmology. “It can profoundly impact quality of life, self‑confidence, and social interactions.”

Pioneering Noninvasive Technology Through Cross‑Disciplinary Mentorship

The study is conducted under the primary mentorship of Dr. Anthony J. Durkin, Director of the SFDI laboratory at UC Irvine and a co‑inventor of the SFDI technique. Dr. Durkin has played a key role in the development and translational application of SFDI for biomedical and clinical imaging, enabling objective, quantitative assessment of tissue physiology.

Technical development, system optimization, and imaging troubleshooting for the project are supported by Dr. Gordon Kennedy, a project scientist and senior member of the SFDI laboratory, whose expertise in optical instrumentation and quantitative imaging methods has been central to adapting SFDI for orbital and peri‑ocular applications relevant to thyroid eye disease.

“Translating optical imaging technologies into meaningful clinical tools requires close collaboration between clinicians and engineers,” said Dr. Durkin. “This project exemplifies how sustained mentorship and advanced imaging infrastructure can support patient‑centered innovation.”

Comprehensive Validation and Clinical Impact

In addition to in‑vivo imaging of patients with active TED and age‑matched healthy controls, the research team will analyze relevant surgical tissue specimens to validate imaging‑derived metrics at a biological level. This combined approach strengthens the potential for SFDI‑based measurements to serve as objective biomarkers of disease activity, severity, and response to therapy. The long‑term goal is to provide clinicians with quantitative tools that can improve diagnosis, guide treatment decisions, and support emerging targeted therapies for thyroid eye disease.

“The treatment landscape is evolving rapidly,” said Dr. Ediriwickrema. “In the coming years, objective imaging biomarkers could play an important role in personalizing care for patients with this disease.”

Training the Next Generation of Clinician‑Scientists

The NEI K23 award supports Dr. Ediriwickrema’s development as an independent clinician‑scientist through a structured mentorship team that includes Drs. Durkin, Bernard Choi, and Anand Ganesan. The award emphasizes patient‑oriented research that directly integrates studies in human subjects with advanced quantitative and imaging methodologies.

“This work reflects UC Irvine’s strength in team‑based translational science,” said Durkin. “By combining clinical insight with innovative optical imaging approaches, we can address important unmet needs in patient care.”

About the National Eye Institute (NEI)

The National Eye Institute (NEI) leads the federal government’s efforts to eliminate vision loss and improve quality of life through vision research, including driving innovation, fostering collaboration, expanding the vision workforce, and educating the public and key stakeholders. The NEI supports basic and clinical science programs to develop sight-saving treatments and to broaden opportunities for people with vision impairment.  For more information, visit   https://www.nei.nih.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

 

 

New Eye-Shaping Technique Could Replace LASIK

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Electromechanical reshaping tweaks pH to correct the cornea

By Meghie Rodrigues |02 Sep 2025

A new, promising technique has the potential to replace laser surgeries in ophthalmologists’ offices in the future, for a fraction of the cost. Called electromechanical reshaping (EMR), the technique offers a gentler approach to correcting the cornea than Laser-Assisted in Situ Keratomileusis (LASIK), today’s gold standard for treating vision issues including nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.

The eye develops these and other conditions when the cornea’s curvature is off—too steep, too flat, or too uneven. To solve the problem, surgeons generally use laser techniques such as LASIK to “sculpt” the eye surface by cutting away small parts of corneal tissue. The results can be life-changing, but the procedure has its risks, as LASIK permanently reduces corneal strength, raising the risk of new vision problems.

Alternative nonsurgical methods such as specially designed contact lenses can temporarily mold the cornea, but these require nightly wear and can cause infection. Now, engineers and eye doctors are trying to find a way to permanently reshape collagen-rich tissues like the cornea without cutting, burning, or removing material.

Brian Wong, a surgeon-engineer at the University of California, Irvine, stumbled upon a possible solution about a decade ago. He had long worked with thermal techniques for reshaping cartilage tissues—which include the cornea—but found a puzzling “Goldilocks problem” during his research: The heating needed to change shapes often killed too many tissue cells. Then a “happy accident” opened a different perspective, he says. “My postdoctoral fellow connected a pair of electrodes and a Coke can to a power supply…and out of spite, fried a piece of cartilage,” Wong recalls. The cartilage began to bubble, which the postdoc thought was from heat. “But it wasn’t hot. We touched it and thought, this is getting a shape change. This must be electrolysis,” he says.

That surprise pointed to electrochemistry rather than heat as the mechanism. To explore further, Wong partnered with Michael Hill, a chemist at Occidental College. Together, they began exploring the chemistry behind EMR and testing it in different tissues. In mid-August, they presented results from their most recent tests at the American Chemical Society’s fall meeting that took place in Washington, D.C.

How Electricity Reshapes Tissue

EMR uses small electrical pulses to split water at the tissue surface into hydrogen and oxygen, releasing protons that spread into the part of the corneal tissue that gives it structural integrity, the ability to hydrate, and other mechanical properties.

Once protons are spread throughout the cornea’s surface, they disrupt the chemical bonds that hold collagen fibers in place, also changing the corneal tissue’s pH. This, Wong explains, is the moment when the cornea becomes moldable. Once shaped with a metal contact lens–like mold, it “locks in” to the new shape as the electric pulses are turned off and the body’s natural physiological response returns the cornea’s pH back to its normal value.

In 2023, Wong and Hill coauthored a proof-of-concept paper in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, showing that EMR could reshape rabbit corneas without compromising transparency. “That paper was really about asking, is it even possible? Can we change the shape of a cornea without gross damage?” Hill says. “Now, after two more years of work, we’ve systematically gone through the parameters—and we can say yes, it is possible, and we can do it safely,” he adds.

Their team built custom platinum contact lenses, press-molded to precise curvatures, and connected them to electrodes. Mounted onto rabbit eyes immersed in a saline solution, the electrodes delivered pulses of around 1.5 volts. X-ray imaging tests confirmed the corneas had indeed matched the mold’s shape. Microscopy tests also confirmed the collagen tissue remained organized post-surgery. “Fine control is the key,” Wong observes.

The cost of procedures using the new technique can be significantly lower than laser eye surgery, according to Wong. That’s because, unlike LASIK, EMR doesn’t rely on “laser platforms that cost as much as luxury cars.” The new technique could also be more affordable for clinics and regions priced out of LASIK.

While the technique has a long way to go before being used in eye surgeries, the research is advancing to in-vivo animal tests to prove safety and durability—and for long-term tracking to ensure the results last. “Nobody’s getting this at the optometrist next year,” Hill cautions. “Now comes the hard work—refining parameters, confirming long-term viability, and making sure treated eyes don’t revert back,” he adds.

That hard work, Hill adds, depends a lot on funding for basic science. EMR was born not from a targeted medical-device program but from curiosity-driven experiments in electrochemistry. “You don’t always know where basic research will lead,” Hill says. “We were looking at electroanalytical chemistry, not eye surgery. But those foundational insights are what made this possible. If you cut off that basic research, you don’t get these kinds of unexpected, transformative opportunities,” he adds.

Click here to read full article on the Spectrum website.

 

UC Irvine Researchers Secure NIH Grant to Advanced Intravascular Imaging System

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UC Irvine Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic researchers Drs. Zhongping Chen and Howard Lee were awarded a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to develop an advanced imaging system for interventional cardiology.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common type of heart-related issue, affecting over 18 million adults and resulting in more than 350,000 deaths annually in recent years. Acute coronary events are primarily caused by ruptured atherosclerotic plaques, emphasizing the need for early detection and accurate identification of plaque types as the first line of defense. Obtaining detailed morphology and functional information on atherosclerotic plaques is crucial for advancing clinical management of atherosclerosis.

Drs. Chen and Lee, working alongside UC Irvine collaborator Dr. Pranav Patel and Dr. Qifa Zho from USC are developing an advanced intravascular imaging system that combines the high spatial resolution of optical coherence tomography, the broad imaging depth of ultrasound, and the high molecular sensitivity of photoacoustic tomography. The multimodal imaging probe designed for studying and characterizing plaque vulnerability requires only a single disposable guide wire and catheter, which will help reduce costs, procedural risks, procedure time, and radiation exposure for patients.

This system will assist clinicians in detecting high-risk arterial areas, customizing treatment approaches for individual patients, monitoring the progression of the disease over time, and evaluating therapeutic effectiveness.  The system is expected to serve as a powerful clinical tool, offering a quantitative methods to benchmark and evaluate new medical devices and therapies in cardiovascular medicine.

Click here to read more about the “Development of Integrated OCT/US/PAT System for Intravascular Imaging” study.

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01HL177188. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

 

LASIK alternative reshapes vision with electricity, not lasers 08-25-2025 LASIK alternative reshapes vision with electricity, not lasers

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By Sanjana Gajbhiye
Earth.com staff writer

For millions of Americans, daily life involves coping with altered vision, from blurriness to complete blindness. Glasses and contact lenses offer solutions, yet many prefer not to rely on them.

In response, hundreds of thousands turn to corrective eye surgeries every year. Among the most common is LASIK, a laser-assisted procedure that reshapes the cornea to sharpen sight.

Why LASIK has limits

Although considered safe, LASIK comes with risks. Cutting into the cornea weakens the eye’s structure and can cause unwanted side effects. Researchers are now working on a way to reshape the cornea without any incisions at all.

Michael Hill, a professor of chemistry at Occidental College, is presenting this new work at the American Chemical Society’s Fall 2025 meeting.

“LASIK is just a fancy way of doing traditional surgery. It’s still carving tissue – it’s just carving with a laser,” said Hill. The new method asks a simple question: what if reshaping the cornea required no cutting?

Discovery of a LASIK alternative

Hill and collaborator Brian Wong, a professor and surgeon at the University of California, Irvine, are exploring electromechanical reshaping (EMR).

“The whole effect was discovered by accident. I was looking at living tissues as moldable materials and discovered this whole process of chemical modification,” noted Wong.

The team’s approach relies on the chemistry of collagen-rich tissues, which hold their shape through charged molecular bonds and high water content.

By applying an electric potential, the experts can temporarily loosen these bonds, making the tissue malleable. Restoring the original conditions then locks in the new form.

Electric reshaping on corneas

Electromechanical reshaping (EMR) was first tested on animal tissues like rabbit ears and pig skin, where it successfully reshaped cartilage and reduced scars. Because the cornea is also rich in collagen, the researchers saw it as an ideal next step.

The team designed platinum “contact lenses” that could act as electrodes, providing both a template for the desired curvature and a tool to deliver a controlled electric current.

In experiments, these lenses were placed on rabbit eyeballs immersed in a saline solution that mimicked natural tears. When a small electric charge was applied, the cornea softened and quickly molded itself to the shape of the lens.

Within just a minute, the cornea had adopted its new curvature. This was comparable in speed to LASIK surgery but did not involve cutting, required simpler tools, and avoided risks linked to incisions, making it a promising alternative for future vision correction.

Testing on rabbit eyes

The team ran trials on 12 rabbit eyeballs, simulating myopia in most of them. In every case, the treatment adjusted the focusing power toward clearer vision. The corneal cells survived, thanks to careful control of pH gradients.

Beyond vision correction, EMR showed potential in reversing certain types of corneal cloudiness. Currently, that condition can only be treated with a full transplant, making this approach especially promising.

Hurdles before human trials

Despite encouraging results, research on this LASIK alternative remains at an early stage. Wong emphasized that the next steps involve “the long march through animal studies that are detailed and precise,” including experiments on living rabbits.

The team also wants to map the full range of corrections EMR could offer, from astigmatism to farsightedness. But scientific funding uncertainties have slowed progress.

“There’s a long road between what we’ve done and the clinic. But, if we get there, this technique is widely applicable, vastly cheaper and potentially even reversible,” noted Hill.

Looking forward

If electromechanical reshaping proves successful, it could transform vision correction by eliminating the need for surgical cuts. The method uses electricity to gently reshape the cornea, offering a safer and less invasive option.

Unlike LASIK, it may lower risks and reduce costs. This innovation has the potential to make clearer vision accessible to more people while preserving the eye’s natural strength and structure.

Ultimately, the study represents a shift in how vision correction could be approached in the future.

The research was supported by the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the John Stauffer Charitable Trust.

Click here to read full article on Earth.com.

 

LASIK without the lasers? Scientists May Have Found a Way

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California scientists have potentially created a non-invasive method of reshaping the cornea.
By  |

What if you could fix your damaged eye without having to shoot a laser at it? Scientists have potentially discovered a novel method of repairing the cornea, similar to LASIK, that wouldn’t require a laser or other invasive surgical tool.

Researchers at Occidental College and the University of California, Irvine, created the technique, which aims to temporarily make the cornea malleable. In experiments with rabbit eyeballs, their method appeared to work while also leaving corneal cells alive. More research is needed to vet the procedure, but if all goes well, it could become a preferred alternative to LASIK, the researchers claim.

“There’s a long road between what we’ve done and the clinic. But, if we get there, this technique is widely applicable, vastly cheaper and potentially even reversible,” said lead researcher Michael Hill, a professor of chemistry at Occidental College, in a statement from the American Chemical Society.

Why some people avoid LASIK

LASIK is routinely used to treat conditions like myopia, farsightedness, or astigmatism. It reshapes the cornea—the transparent, outer layer of the eye that captures and focuses light onto the retina—using a precise cutting laser.

Though generally safe and effective, the surgery does permanently weaken the structural integrity of the cornea. People will also commonly experience side effects like dry eye and visual disturbances like halos; a small few will even develop serious, if rare, complications like chronic nerve pain. Ideally, the team’s method would avoid these risks.

A potentially safer method

The technique is called electromechanical reshaping. Some of the authors had previously used it to manipulate other parts of the body that contain collagen and water, such as ears. It works by altering the pH of the tissue via short bursts of electricity, briefly allowing it to be molded as desired. Once the proper pH is restored, the tissue returns to its original rigid state.

The researchers used the technique on rabbit eyeballs in the lab, some of which were intended to represent myopia in humans. Special contact lenses made from platinum were placed over the extracted eyes. These lenses served as an electrode, providing a base for how the cornea should be correctly reshaped.

Once the researchers lightly zapped the eye, the cornea became flexible and contoured to the shape of the lens. Not only did the cornea fill out as the researchers wanted, but the procedure didn’t seem to kill any corneal cells or otherwise affect the cornea’s stability. A YouTube video describing the team’s approach, from the American Chemical Society, can be seen below.

The team’s results, presented this week at the fall conference of the American Chemical Society, are still preliminary. The researchers admit that it will take more research in animals before they can even think about testing their method in humans. Their next planned step is to try out the procedure on living rabbits.

But the potential for the team’s work is certainly there, and it may extend beyond treating myopia. The researchers are also hoping to explore whether electromechanical reshaping can help repair farsightedness, astigmatism, and possibly even some forms of cloudy vision.

Unfortunately, as has been the case for many scientists during the second Trump administration, the researchers say their work has been delayed over concerns in securing additional funding.

Click here to read full Gizmodo article.

LASIK without the laser? Rabbit eyeballs hint at a new option

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In the lab, electromechanical reshaping can reshape the cornea without cutting tissue.

Laura Baisas | Aug 23, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

Figuring out a way to correct blurry vision is a part of life for many of us. In the United States alone, roughly six million people are estimated to have some sort of vision loss and another one million are totally blind.

To escape glasses and invasive contact lenses, many turn to more permanent corrective eye surgery, including the popular LASIK procedure. However, there might be a new vision correction method (that does not involve teeth) on the horizon that can do the same thing without the side effects. It was recently presented at the American Chemical Society’s annual meeting.

What is LASIK?

LASIK (or Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis) is a surgical procedure that uses a laser to reshape the cornea to correct vision. Human corneas are the dome-shaped, clear structures that sit at the front of the eye. They bend incoming light and focus it onto the retina. From the retina, the light is sent to the brain and interpreted as an image. If the cornea is misshapen, it doesn’t focus on the light properly, blurring the image that the brain is trying to interpret.

During LASIK, specialized lasers remove precise sections of the tissue to reshape the cornea. It is a very common procedure and considered low risk. However, it still has some negative side-effects including eye pain, dry eyes, and seeing halos. It also has some limitations and risks since cutting the cornea can compromise the structural integrity of the eye

“LASIK is just a fancy way of doing traditional surgery. It’s still carving tissue—it’s just carving with a laser,” said Michael Hill, a professor of chemistry at Occidental College who is working on a new way to correct vision without LASIK.

Enter electromechanical reshaping

The procedure that Hill and his collaborator Brian Wong are exploring can achieve this same cornea shaping goal without making an incision. It uses a process known as electromechanical reshaping (EMR). EMR has previously been used to to reshape cartilage-rich rabbit ears and change scars and skin in pigs.

“The whole effect was discovered by accident,” explains Wong, a professor and surgeon at the University of California, Irvine. “I was looking at living tissues as moldable materials and discovered this whole process of chemical modification.”

Within the human body, collagen-containing tissues like the corneas are held together like a magnet, with oppositely charged components fusing together. These tissues contain a lot of water. Applying electric voltage to these watery tissues lowers the pH, making them more acidic. When the pH is altered, the rigid attractions within tissue loosens up and makes the shape more malleable. If the original pH is restored, the tissue locks into a new shape.

In the experimental procedure, the team constructed specialized, platinum contact lenses. The lenses provided a template for the correct cornea shape. They placed the lens over a rabbit eyeball in a saline solution meant to mimic natural tears. When the team applied a small amount of voltage, the platinum lens generated the correct pH change. After roughly 60 seconds, the cornea conformed to the shape of the lens. The procedure took about the same amount of time that LASIK takes, but with fewer steps, less expensive equipment, and no incisions into the eye.

The team repeated this setup on 12 separate rabbit eyeballs. Ten of the eyeballs that the team studied were treated as if they had myopia, or nearsightedness. In all 10 “myopic” eyeballs, vision was theoretically improved since the eye’s targeted focusing power was fixed. The cells in these test eyeballs also survived the treatment, since the pH gradient was carefully controlled.

Additionally, other experiments found that the technique may be capable of reversing some cloudiness to the cornea.

In the early stage

While promising, it’s important to remember that this work is in its very early stages. The team will next go through what Wong describes as, “the long march through animal studies that are detailed and precise.” These include tests on a living rabbit instead of just its eyeball.

The team also plans to determine the types of vision problems that are possible to correct with EMR, such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.

“There’s a long road between what we’ve done and the clinic,” says Hill. If the team can make it up to the operating room, this treatment could be less expensive and reverse blurry vision for good.

Click here to read full Popular Science article.

New Grant Supports Advanced Imaging System for Interventional Cardiology

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Aug. 20. 2025 – Principal investigator: Zhongping Chen, professor of biomedical engineering

Award: $2.5 million over four years

Funding agency:  NIH National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute

Project: Development of integrated OCT/US/PAT system for intravascular Imaging

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common type of heart-related issue, affecting over 18 million adults and resulting in more than 350,000 deaths annually in recent years. This project aims to develop an advanced intravascular imaging system that combines the high spatial resolution of optical coherence tomography, the broad imaging depth of ultrasound and the high molecular sensitivity of photoacoustic tomography. This system will assist doctors in detecting high-risk areas, customizing treatments and monitoring the progression of the disease and therapeutic effectiveness. It will serve as a powerful clinical tool, offering a quantitative means to benchmark and evaluate new medical devices and therapies.

The project involves collaboration of four team members from two institutions: Zhongping Chen, Pranav Patel and Howard Lee from UCI, and Qifa Zhou from USC.

More information: https://reporter.nih.gov/search/4x5c-1ZUmUupN7ZEzJKKnA/project-details/11234720

Click here to read the announcement on the UC Irvine Samueli School of Engineering website.

 

 

Laser-free vision correction uses electrical current to reshape eye

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ANI Published on August 20, 2025 at 04:11 PM IST
Washington DC [US], August 20 (ANI/ WAM): Researchers have developed a potential alternative to LASIK surgery that corrects vision without the use of lasers. The new method, called electromechanical reshaping (EMR), uses electrical currents and a platinum contact lens to alter the shape of the cornea.

The technique was presented during a meeting of the American Chemical Society by a team led by Michael Hill, professor of chemistry at Occidental College. EMR relies on generating pH changes in collagen-containing tissues such as the cornea, making them temporarily malleable.

In experiments involving rabbits, the team used a platinum “contact lens” in the shape of a corrected cornea as a way to generate precise pH changes in the animal’s tissues.

Roughly a minute later, around the time it takes to perform LASIK, the rabbit’s cornea conformed to the contact lens — but with fewer steps and no incisions, according to the researchers.

The team successfully improved the shape of eyeballs, which were treated as if they had myopia, or nearsightedness, in ten out of 12 rabbit eyeballs.

According to the team, EMR could address conditions such as myopia and may also treat chemical-induced cloudiness, which usually requires a corneal transplant.

Brian Wong, professor at the University of California, Irvine, said the effect was discovered by accident while studying tissue modification. Hill noted that further detailed animal studies will be required before any clinical use, but added that the approach could prove more affordable and potentially reversible compared with current methods.

“There’s a long road between what we’ve done and the clinic,” said Hill in the statement. “But, if we get there, this technique is widely applicable, vastly cheaper and potentially even reversible.” (ANI/ WAM)

Click here to read full article on The Economic Times Healthworld.com.