RRC students helping MDs see into the future

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This article was published 05/04/2022 (1464 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg med-tech startup called Neuroptek is developing a ground-breaking device that would allow eye exams to be done remotely using an inexpensive device and a smartphone app.

The married couple who are founders of the device called Eye Mirage, are currently doing some final stage coding with the help of information technology, management and security students at Red River College Polytech through RRC’s Ace Project Space. The program links companies or organizations that need technical assistance with students in information technology programs at RRC.

Drs. Neda Anssari and Behzad Mansouri, who both did their medical degrees at universities in Iran and who both became professors at the University of Manitoba, said the connection with RRC has been a positive element of the development of the technology.

“I can’t emphasize enough that our goal is to make this an affordable tool,” Mansouri said.

Neuroptek and the other 16 companies currently working with a total of 75 students at Ace Project, do not have to pay anything to be involved in the project.

Ralph Dueck, RRC’s ACE Project Space Coordinator, said it was able to obtain a grant from Mitacs, the national non-profit that funds all sorts of research in partnership with Canadian academic institutions, to pay some of the students on the project.

At least two of them will take on paid employment with Neuroptek when the work assignment part of the curriculum ends at the end of April.

Justin Horton, a business information technology student, said, “The experience I’m getting on this Neuroptek project will be 100 per cent appropriate when I go out looking for a job.”

Anssari said the connection with the Ace Project was economically excellent for the development of the business – since it was work they did not have to pay for — and the fact that it will also aid in students’ development was also an attractive feature for them.

While the real-world work experience may be beneficial for career development for the student, Dueck said that is not a prime concern for the college.

“When we are taking on projects, among everything else, the number-one concern for us is to provide the best, most meaningful educational opportunity for the students,” he said.

In 2020, both Anssari and Mansouri left the U of M and started the Brain Vision and Concussion Clinic in Winnipeg.

Anssari, who is a neurologist and concussion subspecialist, said that traumatic brain injuries like concussions are a leading cause of death and disabilities and are very challenging to diagnose.

“It is an invisible disability as there is no reliable objective measurements to diagnose concussions,” she said. “It is mostly based on the patient’s medical history or bystanders at the scene of the action. And when a person sustains a concussion it puts them at greater risk for having another one.”

She said that they know that about 70 per cent of patients with concussion have some eye movement abnormality after the impact.

Neuroptek’s Eye Mirage will be able to accurately measure and record these abnormalities and hopefully diagnose the concussion sooner.

In addition to concussion diagnosis, the Eye Mirage can also perform regular eye exams using the smartphone as well as detection of conditions like cataracts and glaucoma. The thinking is that the device will have a great impact on diagnosing vision problems especially for people living in remote communities with minimal exposure to eye doctors.

Mansouri said there was a recent study done in suburban Toronto that found 25 per cent of students tested had some vision impairment requiring glasses.

“And that is in the suburbs of a city like Toronto,” he said suggesting that in remote communities diagnosing vision impairment might find even more incidents.

Anssari and Mansouri hope to do a clinical study on their device this fall for a commercial launch next year. They plan to market the diagnostic device in Canada first but have a clear idea that it could definitely have a global market reach.

Meanwhile, the handful of students working on the project are set to graduate this spring.

The project not only expose them to information regarding vision health but they learned coding in a language they had not been exposed to before.

Kuldeep Kaur Sandhu, an information security student, said the work with Neuroptek will ease her path into a professional career.

“It has been very beneficial to be involved in this project,” she said. “It is such a wonderful experience.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca