Congratulations to Justine Han of APS, runner-up of Jefferson's 2nd Annual JAZTank Competition on April 27, 2016.
Her presentation on plasma treatment of corneal ulcers earned:
- Cash: $5,000 in financial support
- Business Mentorship: Six months of shared (between the two runners up) workspace at Militia Hill Ventures, a life sciences innovation hub that provides physical space where companies, partners and investors can innovate, manage and finance their ideas
- Legal Support: One free patent, copyright, or trademark application
- Consultation: Business and clinical consulting services designed to build your business
Plasma Treatment of Corneal ulcers
Corneal ulcers, or ulcerative keratitis are open wounds of the eye that often require aggressive, complex medical treatment. Infective corneal ulcers can be caused by bacterial, viral, fungal or parasitic infections of the cornea tissue that can rapidly lead to loss of vision, even with proper management of the disease. Our goal is to provide a potential solution and ensure patients do not suffer the devastating effects that can be caused by keratitis.
There are 71,000 cases of severe microbial keratitis each year which is only expected to increase steadily. By the end of this year 900,000 visits will be made to the doctor due to episodes of keratitis. We want to approach this medical need and introduce our device to the opthalmologists who are faced with treating this complex disease. Ophthalmologists are actively seeking new approaches to corneal ulcers as existing treatments do not meet the medical needs.
Our team has been working to develop a low temperature plasma device to reduce the risk of eye infections. Our technology utilizes a novel dielectric barrier discharge in which plasma exists in a non-equilibrium state allowing the discharge to be safe to the touch. This means the patient will not feel pain or discomfort as they might with currently used drops or injections. Research has demonstrated that our technology can inactivate bacteria on scleral and corneal tissues of live rabbis and pig eyes without causing damage. This treatment opens an opportunity to bring a novel medical device to the market that can treat the eye area painlessly and effectively.