Time Resolved Ocular Fluorometer

本项目的目标是开发一种通用的荧光测量仪器。 眼睛上和眼睛内的寿命。该仪器将利用荧光寿命 用于显微镜和分析化学测量细胞体积、氧、 电解质浓度、pH和其他对动物活体眼睛和最终人类眼睛有重要影响的变量。这将在眼科研究中有明显的应用，并最终可能在疾病诊断和监测中应用。该仪器还将用于内源荧光的测量。因此，糖尿病患者角膜和晶状体的自体荧光增强，而荧光视网膜脂褐素参与了老年性黄斑变性的发病机制。在第一阶段，我们证明了这项技术在眼睛中的可行性。我们已经开发出一种特别灵敏的测量荧光寿命的方法，该方法特别适合于眼睛应用。眼睛面临着入射光圈有限、潜在的运动以及在强度和持续时间方面对光线暴露的有限耐受性的挑战。我们的总体目标将是生产一种标准化的仪器，并开发使用眼睛内或眼睛上的内源或外源荧光分子进行荧光寿命测量的协议。一个关键目标将是标准化和校准控制，以便在不同机器上得到的结果具有可比性。此外，我们将以足够的灵活性设计这种仪器，以便我们可以随着新的荧光寿命探测器的开发而增加功能，我们的客户可以开发自己的技术。

The goal of this project is to develop a general-purpose instrument for measuring fluorescence lifetimes on and inside the eye. This instrument will take advantage of fluorescence lifetime probes designed for microscopy and analytical chemistry to measure cell volume, oxygen, concentration of electrolytes, pH, and other variables of importance in and on live eyes in animals and eventually humans. This will have obvious applications in eye research and may eventually have applications in disease diagnosis and monitoring. This instrument will also be useful in the measurement of endogenous fluorescence. Thus, autofluorescence of cornea and lens are elevated in diabetes while fluorescent retinal lipofuscins are implicated in the pathogenesis of Age Relate Macular Degeneration. During Phase I, we demonstrated feasibility of this technique in the eye. We have developed a particularly sensitive method for measurement fluorescence lifetimes that is uniquely suited for ocular applications. The eye poses challenges of limited entrance aperture, potential movement, and limited tolerance to light exposure both in terms of intensity and duration. Our overall goal will be to produce a standardized instrument and to develop protocols for making fluorescent lifetime measurements using endogenous or exogenous fluorescent molecules in or on the eye. A critical goal will be standardization and calibration control, so that results made on different machines are comparable. In addition, we will design this instrument with enough flexibility so that we can add capabilities as new fluorescence lifetime probes are developed, and our customers can develop techniques of their own.