An international collaboration between the UK and South Korea has secured funding to revolutionise the diagnosis, management and treatment of prevalent eye conditions that affect over 30% of the global population.
The groundbreaking initiative, supported by a £1.4 million investment from UK Research and Innovation's UK-South Korea Digital Health CRD, draws together leading academic, clinical and industry partners.
Its aim is to develop customised corneal treatment approaches - for conditions including myopia, astigmatism and keratoconus - by integrating cutting-edge in vivo biomechanical characterisation, state-of-the-art numerical modelling, and artificial intelligence.
Traditional corneal treatments have long depended on empirical nomograms and subjective clinical assessments, while the new project will seek to deliver personalise treatments using software tools that incorporate a patient's unique ocular biomechanics, topography and microstructural characteristics.
By refining four critical treatment areas - orthokeratology contact lens fitting, collagen cross-linking, intracorneal ring segment surgeries and optimising limbal incisions in cataract surgeries - the project promises to improve surgical precision and patient outcomes significantly.
These enhancements will reduce postoperative astigmatism, correct refractive errors, slow myopia progression, and ultimately restore healthier corneal geometry.
The project is led by Ocuwell Ltd, a University of Liverpool spinout company, in close collaboration with the University of Plymouth and partners from South Korea: Yonsei University, the University of Ulsan, and EYEREUM Clinic.
With more than 25 years of expertise in corneal research, numerical modelling and the application of artificial intelligence in medicine, the collaboration has already de-risked the proposed treatments through preliminary studies.
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