MOON - Multimodal Optical Diagnosis of Ocular and Neurodegenerative Disease
The project MOON aims at improving the diagnosis of major ophthalmic and neurodegenerative diseases through the development of disruptive optical technology.
The novel diagnostic platform combines the strength of complementary modalities, being Optical Coherence Tomography, Fluorescence Imaging, and Raman Spectroscopy.
MOON includes a validation of the multimodal diagnostic system in a clinical setting focusing on age-related macula degeneration and Alzheimer’s disease as surrogates for other major diseases affecting the human eye and the brain.
The eye serves as window to the brain, as the retinal neural tissue is equally affected by major neurodegenerative diseases as the brain tissue itself. Early signs of disease may therefore be diagnosed at an early state in a fully objective manner. This would have a huge societal impact on the quality of life of patients and their caretakers as well as on the national healthcare systems themselves.
Funding
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 732969 (MOON). It is an initiative of the Photonics Public Private Partnership. www.photonics21.org