Shen Lab

The Shen Lab is developing artificial corneas and ocular biosensors for preventing blindness on a global scale.

Corneal opacity is a major cause of blindness. Using donor corneas is often not feasible due to availability and cultural barriers. Artificial corneas developed to date have shown serious limitations. The development of a new biomaterial structure with greatly improved sclera tissue integration and excellent optics shows the potential to overcome many of these issues and allow the construction and application of an improved prosthesis that can eventually be used to restore sight to a much broader population than is possible now. The Shen lab is also developing microelectronic wi-fi biosensors to allow physicians to monitor the health of patients remotely. The overarching goal is to treat global blindness by leveraging technological advancements in polymer sciences, microelectronics, and modern imaging techniques.