PerZeption Wins NEI Phase I SBIR Grant to Develop Tablet-Based Photostress Recovery Test for AMD
核心洞察
PerZeption Inc. (搜索) has received a Phase I SBIR grant from the National Eye Institute to develop an achromatic and chromatic photostress recovery test for age-related macular degeneration (搜索).
The Boston-based company will run the study with researchers at the Brunson Center for Translational Vision Research at the University of California, Irvine.
The funded work aims to characterize the full post-light-exposure recovery curve on PerZeption's Angular Indication Measurement platform rather than a single recovery time point.
PerZeption Inc. (搜索), a Boston-based developer of adaptive psychophysical vision testing, has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Eye Institute (NEI) for a project titled "Efficient Achromatic and Chromatic Photostress Recovery Assessment for Age-related Macular Degeneration (搜索)." The study will be conducted in collaboration with researchers at the Brunson Center for Translational Vision Research at the University of California, Irvine.
Phase I NEI SBIR awards carry up to $323,090 in total costs. According to the company, the selection carries weight beyond the funding amount because SBIR awards are peer-reviewed by vision scientists and clinicians, indicating that the underlying platform addresses a recognized clinical need.
Targeting a Diagnostic Gap in AMD
The clinical rationale for the project centers on how quickly vision recovers after bright light exposure, which the company describes as a sensitive indicator of macular health capable of revealing functional deficits before they become apparent on standard acuity testing in patients with age-related macular degeneration (搜索) (AMD).
Current photostress recovery testing collapses the entire recovery process into a single time point, requires dedicated equipment, and demands trained staff — a combination that has kept the test out of routine practice. The funded work will instead develop an efficient achromatic and chromatic test on PerZeption's Angular Indication Measurement (AIM) platform (搜索) that characterizes the full recovery function rather than a single threshold, yielding a richer description of macular health in a format suited to routine clinical use.
"An estimated 20 million people live with AMD in the United States alone. Detecting functional deficits caused by the disease early is a critical issue in eye care," said Jan Skerswetat, PhD, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of PerZeption. "We are grateful to the NEI for recognizing the potential of our technology to support earlier detection of vision loss in these patients."
Separate reporting on the award cites a figure of roughly 19.8 million Americans aged 40 and older living with some stage of AMD, and notes that a richer recovery profile could flag functional loss before standard acuity testing detects it — the point at which diagnostic value accrues for a disease that destroys central vision gradually.
Platform and Prior Validation
The AIM platform runs as a cloud-based application on standard tablets, phones, and all-in-one computers, and enables testing of more than 20 visual functions, including measures for which no commercial device is currently available. PerZeption states that AMD photostress recovery is among the functions currently lacking a commercial device. By consolidating testing onto a single self-administered platform, the technology is designed to reduce chair time and staff burden relative to bulky, single-purpose instruments, and requires minimal training or dedicated space. Cloud delivery supports secure in-clinic and remote testing with consistent, trackable results for clinicians, researchers, and pharmaceutical sponsors.
The award follows validation studies of AIM tests across a range of visual functions and patient populations, published in journals including Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, Optometry and Vision Science, and — earlier this month — Scientific Reports.
Feasibility Data and Regulatory Path
The Phase I project is explicitly framed as generating the clinical data required to establish feasibility and support the company's regulatory pathway, with the objective of providing eye care providers a fast, repeatable, sensitive, and quantitative measure of macular function that fits within routine clinical workflow. That framing signals an intent to pursue a cleared device rather than a research instrument alone, and the collaboration with UC Irvine provides the feasibility study with academic clinical access.
A key metric to watch from the Phase I data is test-retest repeatability. A fast, tablet-based photostress recovery measure is only likely to displace legacy methods in clinical workflows if its coefficient of variation is tight enough to detect disease progression reliably — a threshold that will bear on whether the company's eventual regulatory submission holds up.