| The INOVEO project was initiated 2 years ago with the goal of providing doctors with a novel device for clinical investigations into retinal disease. In contrast to other retinal imaging projects that used adaptive optics, the principal challenge for INOVEO was to develop a device that would enable cellular level retinal imaging in almost any eye – even those presenting significant optical aberrations or having been affected by certain pathologies. Coordinated by Imagine Eyes, INOVEO unites 11 of France’s leading academic laboratories, high-tech companies and university ophthalmology departments. The project was awarded grants from both the ANR (Agence National pour la Recherche – one of France’s national research funding organisms) and the Retina France Association. INOVEO’s primary objectives are to:
INOVEO is complimentary to the earlier and ongoing OEIL project which led to the creation of an adaptive optics fundus imager that was developed by LESIA (1) and installed at the Quinze-Vingts hospital’s Center for Clinical Investigations (CIC - 2). The CIC works in close collaboration with the Institut de la Vision, one of France’s newer, but none the less prestigious, research institutions which regroups a certain number of national and international projects at the leading edge of ophthalmology research. The feedback from the medical users of this first-generation system included the need for several improvements and helped shape the technical requirements for the INOVEO prototype devices. The first major challenge to overcome in the development of the INOVEO prototype was the conception of a wavefront correction device that would be capable of compensating for the wide-ranging aberrations found in human eyes. The Grenoble Astrophysics Laboratory (2), in collaboration with Imagine Eyes, developed a totally new deformable mirror technology that provides a correction ability far beyond that of other available technologies. The device, the mirao™ 52-e Electromagnetic Deformable Mirror, has had considerable commercial success in ophthalmic applications as well as in several other domains including microscopy and lasers. mirao uses electromagnetic energy to deform a highly flexible reflective surface and is capable of meeting the INOVEO project’s demanding specifications. The Laboratory of Data Treatment & Transportation (3) and the National Office Aerospace Studies and Research (4) contributed to the project by developing algorithms based on predictive modeling that optimize the adaptive optics correction. The latter of the two equally conceived specific algorithms, using multiple deconvolution, to sharpen the contrast in sequences of images taken at different tissue depths in the retina using adaptive optics. In addition, the Institut Curie’s Cell and Tissue Imaging Facility contributed to the project by sharing their know-how in biological image processing. |
The INOVEO Ultra-High Resolution Adaptive Optics Retinal Camera.
INOVEO team members Dr. Kiyoko Nakashima (Hôpital Necker, left) and Dr. Nathalie Massamba (Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal de Créteil, right) working with the prototype at Imagine Eyes.
These images of human photoreceptor cone cells are each 115 x 115 pixels and correspond to an area of approximately 150 x 150 µm. The image to the left is without adaptive optics and the image to the right is with the adaptive optics loop functioning. |
INOVEO achieved its first major objective in July 2008 when the first retinal imaging prototype was installed at the ophthalmology department of the Hôptial Necker – the first medical center to identify the potential of Imagine Eyes’ technology. Ophthalmologists are currently exploring the benefits of the flood-illumination fundus camera enhanced with adaptive optics on healthy eyes as well as in patients suffering from retinal dystrophies. In the near future, two other ophthalmic research centers will begin their own clinical investigations when the next prototypes are delivered over the coming months – the Créteil Intercommunity Hospital Center (5), whose ophthalmology department is recognized worldwide as a research leader in Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) and the previously cited Institut de la Vision.
Partner companies Quantel and Mauna Kea Technologies have equally begun exploring opportunities to combine the new adaptive optics system with other technologies including selective photocoagulation and optical coherence tomography (OCT), as well as expanding the device’s three-dimensional imaging capabilities.
INOVEO is a major step in bringing adaptive optics, originally designed to improve the vision of terrestrial telescopes, into retinal pathology diagnosis and treatment. Imagine Eyes and our INOVEO partners are proud of our efforts to try and help the millions of people around the world who suffer from these disorders. We hope that our work will soon enable doctors to alleviate their suffering and help them to lead better lives.
The participants in the INOVEO project consortium are (in alphabetical order)
- Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal de Créteil
- Hôpital Necker
- Imagine Eyes
- Cell and Tissue Imaging Facility, Institut Curie
- L’Institut de la Vision
- Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (LAOG, CNRS-UJF)
- Laboratoire d’Etudes Spatiales en Instrumentation en Astrophysique (LESIA, CNRS – Observatoire de Paris
- Laboratoire de Traitement et de Transport d’Information (L2TI, Université Paris XIII)
- Mauna Kea Technologies
- Office National d’Etude et de Recherches Aérospatiales (ONERA)
- Quantel Medical
For detailed technical information on our products, including those used in the development of the INOVEO prototype, please visit the Products section of our website. If you would like more information, please call us on +33 (0)1 64 86 15 66 or click here to contact us by e-mail.
Please note that the names of some of the INOVEO partners have been translated into English in order to facilitate reading for visitors. They are referenced by number in the document. They are listed below in their original French names.
1 - Laboratoire d’Etudes Spatiales en Instrumentation en Astrophysique (LESIA, CNRS – Observatoire de Paris
2 – Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (LAOG, CNRS-UJF)
3 – Laboratoire de Traitement et de Transport d’Information (L2TI, Université Paris XIII)
4 – Office National d’Etude et de Recherches Aérospatiales (ONERA)
5 – Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal de Créteil