Vasoptic Medical sees a clearer vision for how we monitor eye health

This story was produced with support from the Howard County Economic Development Authority, which operates the Maryland Innovation Center and helps entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes access the funding, guidance, and connections they need to grow in Howard County, Maryland.

Abhishek Rege wants to transform how doctors assess eye and brain health. 

Vasoptic Medical, the startup he cofounded in 2012, develops technology that monitors blood flow noninvasively to help diagnose and track various health conditions. The company does this work out of the Maryland Innovation Center, the business incubator operated by the Howard County Economic Development Authority.

The technology, known as laser speckle contrast imaging, uses laser light to capture blood flow in tissue. When laser light hits a surface, it scatters and creates a grainy speckle pattern. If the surface is living tissue with moving blood cells, the pattern blurs slightly — similar to the ghosting effect in a long-exposure photograph. By analyzing pattern changes, the system provides detailed insights into blood flow without the need for invasive procedures.

“We produce an advanced type of data that nobody else does,” Rege said. 

Rege began developing the technology as a biomedical engineering Ph.D. student at Johns Hopkins University and founded Vasoptic shortly after completing his program.

In its early years, the company focused on research and development, running trials to evaluate the technology in different clinical settings. Funding came primarily from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Small Business Innovation Research grants, along with support for business development from TEDCO, the Abell Foundation and angel investors.

Rege is concerned about the cuts to NIH funding, but said Vasoptic Medical hasn’t yet felt its effects.

“I’m optimistic that we won’t simply because of how compelling our science and potential is in clinical medicine,” Rege said. 

By 2017, the company shifted its focus to building a product centered on a single use case. Unlike MRI or CT scans, the technology can’t penetrate bone or image deep tissues. While it could be applied to the skin or during surgical procedures, the Vasoptic team chose to develop a product specifically for imaging the eye.

“The eye is a natural window to light, so you can use optical imaging very nicely,” Rege said. 

The company built the XyCAM RI, which received FDA approval in 2020. The device resembles those used in a standard eye exam, but instead of a bright flash capturing a still image, it uses a low-intensity laser to image the eye and record a six-second video.

“We obtain our data at a very high frame rate,” Rege said. “We can actually see this blood flow as it pulsates with every heartbeat, which gives us a lot of advanced information.”

The device taps into the growing field of oculomics, which views the eye as a gateway to understanding overall health. Because the retina is an extension of brain tissue, monitoring blood flow there can provide insights into blood flow in the brain, Rege explained.

“Where else in the human body can you access this kind of information with a very simple eye exam?” Rege said. 

The device is currently being tested for diagnosing and managing different conditions, with a primary focus on glaucoma, an eye condition that can cause blindness. Since 2016, the team has collaborated with Osamah Saeedi, director of clinical research and the glaucoma division at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM), to validate the technology.

The five-person team has collaborated with physicians and researchers at UMSOM, Johns Hopkins, and the University of California, San Diego to test various aspects of the technology. While their primary focus remains glaucoma, they have also explored imaging blood flow in the eyes of premature infants to better understand retinopathy of prematurity, a condition affecting early-born babies. Additionally, the team is investigating its potential use in monitoring dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Rege said that the company’s customer base is largely research-minded ophthalmologists drawn to new technology.

“Our commercial goal is to sell and make available our instrument to these early adopters,” Rege said, “and support the product development to get us to the next stage.”