Can humans eventually stop losing their eyesight?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 75% of the adults in the world need glasses. Think about that. That means 3 out of 4 people in any given room theoretically will need, or already need glasses. That isn’t shocking, after all, our common perception of any aged person is has a cane, crows feet, and glasses. However, some of these people are at a real risk of losing their eyesight permanently!
However, there is a potentially more frightening thought than having to walk around every day with miniaturized magnifying glasses on your face. What if, even with the help of all the best glasses in the world, you started losing your eyesight. That is what it’s like to have glaucoma, a condition that steadily decreases a patient’s ability to see, and if left untreated could render them completely blind.
To put that this arbitrary “some” into perspective, as of 2018 the US had 327.2 million people living in it. There are about 200,000 cases of glaucoma per year (according to Mayo Clinic). That means that in one given year, at least 0.06% of the population has newly been diagnosed with Glaucoma.
During visits to the ophthalmologist you likely get a glaucoma check, but what really is it, what are the doctors checking for?
Pressure deteriorates the optic nerve:
Glaucoma is caused by a buildup of eye fluid (aqueous humor) behind the eyes. The fluid usually gets drained out through tissue in the inner eye (the trabecular meshwork). If the drainage system doesn’t work properly, or there is an excess production of the fluid, the fluid cannot flow out at the normal rate and eye pressure goes up. Once the pressure gets too high, it causes damage to the optic nerve. As the optic nerve deteriorates, blind spots start to appear in one’s vision.
What’s more, glaucoma develops slowly. That means that symptoms may show up too late, or may develop after an eye exam where one won’t be able to know what’s wrong until the optic nerve has already been damaged too much. In addition, once the vision is lost, it cannot be gotten back, so it’s really important to diagnose and treat glaucoma as early as possible. If not, it can lead to permanent blindness.
There are no consistent monitoring systems for early glaucoma detection:
The fact that there is no system to monitor eye pressure consistently is the problem that today’s approach to diagnosing glaucoma faces. The time in between checks for the illness can be too long, and thus, a patient can have glaucoma develop while they don’t notice.
When they would come in for a new eye check, it could possibly already be too late. Furthermore, it is shown that glaucoma develops slowly, and thus, a patient could have deteriorating eyesight without knowing until it is too late.
Once the vision is lost, it cannot be regained!
There is a need for early detection of the rising build-up of fluid pressure in the eye to help combat the effects of loss of sight.
Currently, diagnosing glaucoma is done through 6 methods; however, the two most common ways are by widening the pupils to take a look at the optic nerve (an eye exam) and doing a tonometry test. The tonometry test consists of numbing the eye, and then holding a pencil-shaped device to the eye and gently pressing on it to measure pressure.
The problem with these detection methods is that they are more often than not, inaccurate. Meaning that although it can show whether or not a patient has glaucoma, the measure of exactly how bad it is takes much more time. Coupled with the fact that glaucoma develops over time, the timing of the exam could be too late or too early to tell.
Engineering nerve cells provide a solution to continuous monitoring
There is a solution to detecting glaucoma at the right time before it gets to be something that significantly affects daily life.
Biosensors combined with genetic engineering could provide accurate and continuous detection of ocular pressure so that patients who are genetically predisposed to glaucoma would have a much greater chance of catching increasing eye-pressure before it becomes a problem.
The microscopic biosensors enhanced with genetically engineered cells are would provide continuous monitoring of the eye without the hassle of going to an optometrist and without the dangers of putting a nanosensor in the inner eye.
However, to understand the solution, the genetically engineered cells must be explained, and the properties of the biosensor must be thought through.
Genetically engineered whole nerve cell
- the cell is engineered to detect changes in pressure
- cell wall contracts when pressure is exerted
- specifically engineered protein is released when pressure is exerted on the cell
To start the formation of the sensor, a whole nerve cell would be engineered to respond to tiny pressure changes. The cell’s wall would be made so that when pressure was exerted, the pressure change would cause an immediate reaction in the cell itself, such as a contraction or the release of a specific protein (that would also be engineered to react to a pressure change). The bigger the contraction of the cell and the more protein being released, the more pressure is being exerted.
The cell itself would be a whole nerve cell, that way it would be highly compatible with the eye and cause ideally no irritation.
Whole-cell Biosensor to detect the readout of pressure:
- An engineered response from cell causes a signal to be sent to the transducer in the biosensor
- either the contracted cell or proteins released, cause a chain reaction that signals the transducer in the biosensor
- the transducer sends an electrical signal to a computer or other electrical device that then outputs a readable pressure
The engineered cell could sense pressure all it wants, however, without a device to monitor and send the readout of the contraction of the cell, the engineered cell would not be adding anything of value to the eye or the pressure detection process. This is why a biosensor is needed.
A biosensor is a microscopic sensor that is made up of two main components. A biological part such as a cell, enzyme, protein, RNA, or even DNA, and an electrical component that measures the substance being detected by the cell and transfers it into a readout.
Like many biosensors, whole-cell sensors use either electrochemical or optical detection to measure the readout of the specific substance being detected. In this case a protein and pressure exerted on the cell. The whole-cell biosensor links the measurement of a specific compound or substance that affects the pressure or another physical aspect of the cell to a transducer (a device that converts one form of energy into another) which then gives off an optical or electrochemical readout to be observed.
A pressure sensing biosensor:
As stated above, research has shown that the buildup of pressure from fluid causes damage to the optic nerve, which then causes glaucoma. Thus, there needs to be a more efficient system of constantly monitoring the fluid pressure behind the eye in patients that could have the possibility of glaucoma.
To combat the inefficiency of eye tests and the inconsistency of ophthalmology visits, I propose a pressure sensing biosensor, which could be implanted into the eye or slowly moved to the back of the eye through a contact lens.
It has been shown that Glaucoma is related to genetics, and specifically, early development of glaucoma has been shown to come from a mutation in the myocilin gene. Thus, the characterization of people that would receive this sensor would be based on their genetics (whether or not their relatives have or had glaucoma) and previous eye tests, as well as the patient’s own willingness to have the sensor implanted.
Not everything is smooth sailing:
Although this solution covers many of the complications and problems that come with spread out eye tests, the biosensor itself also has some challenges in its deployment. These include getting the biosensor implanted into the eye, or getting it to travel to the back of the eye and the biosensor’s actual compatibility with the eye versus the actual interaction. In addition, the chemistry of the eye may or may not affect the sensor as well.
This can all be tested in a lab, however, trials measuring the actually effectivity of the sensor in the eye would have to be carefully monitored for the sensor’s effectivity and the reaction with the eye.
Key Takeaways:
- a significant percentage of the population will need glasses later on in life.
- Glaucoma is a condition that causes damage to the optic nerve and thus, results in vision loss or altogether blindness.
- Glaucoma is often caused by a buildup of eye pressure fluid in the back of the eye, damaging the optic nerve.
- The monitoring and diagnosis systems for glaucoma are often only performed sparsely and often don’t detect where a patient is in terms of risk percentage.
- biosensors and genetically engineered cells can provide a solution to inefficient monitoring.
- by implanting a genetically engineered nerve cell that is attached to a biosensor, once the pressure is exerted on the cell it will produce an output on the amount of pressure being exerted.
- there are still some problems with this method, but they can be tested and overcome in a lab. These are mainly problems having to do with the implantation and development of the sensor.
Contact me @:
- liasepiashvilii@gmail.com
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/leah-sepiashvili-486a20192/