The Institut de la Màcula incorporates pioneering equipment thanks to LITE

The European LITE project , whose partners include the Institut de la Màcula and the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), has completed the validation of a pioneering piece of equipment that enables retinal images and details at cellular level to be captured with precision for the first time in Spain. The equipment, which will continue to be improved through the participation of the members of the Consortium, will serve as the basis for new research projects.

The partners met last december at the premises of the Institut de la Màcula conclude this ambitious project. Begun in December 2013, Development of Advanced Laser Imaging Techniques for the anterior and posterior Eye has given rise to the development of an advanced system for obtaining precise retinal images and hitherto unseen details at cell level.

Final Meeting

The first working session involved the review of the tasks carried out in each Work Package (WP), together with the results obtained during the project. Once the AOSLO (adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy) and SHG (second harmonic generation) machines had been implemented and tested, the team confirmed that hybridisation of these two systems provides a more accurate diagnosis at cell level. This new apparatus affords broader knowledge and new, more precise, parameters for assessing efficiency in response to the new emerging experimental therapies for eye diseases.

The hybridisation of AOSLO and SHG gives more accurate diagnosis at cell level.

The second session focused on plans for disseminating the project and using the new system as well as on aspects of a more organisational nature.

Keep working

All the partners congratulated each other on the project’s functioning and on their participation and degree of involvement. They also reaffirmed their intention to continue working together on other projects that promote research and development in the field of photonics and come together in applications of excellence for the diagnosis and monitoring of patients. The research centres that have promoted LITE expressed their gratitude for the involvement of different institutions from Catalonia and Tuscany: the Agency for Business Competitiveness, ACCIÓ, and the Region of Tuscany.

Moment of the Final Meeting, a work day celebrated last 15th December.

Intense activity before the Final Meeting

The Final Meeting of LITE was preceded by intensive activity over the final months in Barcelona. In November, a number of work meetings of the entity’s medical and optometrist team were held and there was also a workshop that studied the images obtained in the project’s final stage. The session, which took place at the Institut’s premises, boasted the participation of Dr David Merino of the ICFO. Finally, on 22 November, the research teams of the Catalan partners set out the status of LITE and the milestones achieved to Albert Ballbé, the project manager of ACCIÓ, one of the sponsor institutions.

Project Manager of ACCIÓ, Albert Ballbé, follows the explanations of Dr. David Merino (ICFO) on LITE's project hybrid equipment, near doctors Jordi Monés & Marc Biarnés.

The Institut de la Màcula has formed part of this research, together with the ICFO and Italy’s Construzione Strumenti Oftalmici (CSO), Istituto Nazionale di Ottica (INO) and Istituto di Fisica Applicata Nello Carrara (IFAC).

The European LITE project is cofunded by ACCIÓ and the European Union through the Seventh Framework Programme of Research and Technological Development, BiophotonicPlus.