Download Project title: II. Ocular Micro-Tremor Eye Movement Measurement as

Project title: II. Ocular Micro-Tremor Eye Movement Measurement as a
Medical Diagnostic Tool: Optical Measurement and Analysis
Priority Research area: Engineering, (Also - Clinical, Preclinical and Health
Sciences)
Principal Investigator details:
Name: Professor John T. Sheridan
Email address: [email protected]
Web link to research profile
http://www.ucd.ie/research/people/electricalelectroniccommseng/professorjohnsheridan/
NOTE: We wish to build new collaborative networks to work with and complement our
existing programs.
Project Background: Ocular Micro Tremor (OMT) is a physiological high frequency (up to 150HZ) low
amplitude (25-2500nm peak-to-peak) involuntary motion of the human eye. Recent studies suggest
a number of clinical applications for OMT that include monitoring the depth of anesthesia of a
patient in surgery, prediction of outcome in coma, and diagnosis of brain stem death. Clinical OMT
investigations to date have used mechanical piezoelectric probes or piezoelectric strain gauges that
have many drawbacks and limitations arising out of the facts that: (i) the probe is in contact with the
eye (stressful, unhygienic etc.), and (ii) only measure motion in one direction. Far-field non-contact
optical technology could overcome these drawbacks, and furthermore would allow highly accurate
measurement of the full motion of the eye.
Candidates: This project is applied research oriented and has a strong practical engineering flavour.
The student undertaking it should be highly motivated and prepared to work as a member of an
active and diverse research group. Strong interest in optics, mathematics, computer programming
and scientific instrumentation would be a plus.
Typical tasks Involved: Work as a member of a research group. Literature search (read papers about
OMT and optical systems). Apply a far-field optical OMT measurement instrument using a novel
optical system of illumination and detection (ultra-fast digital camera) and specialist digital image
processing. The overall system performance will be optimized by balancing and combining most
appropriately all the constituent parts (optical, optoelectronic and digital processing software). This
process may be complicated by imperfection in (1) the optics, e.g., aberrations, (2) non-ideal
optoelectronic, e.g., camera speed and resolution and (3) software capabilities and processing
speeds.
Some of our relevant publications:
J. T. Sheridan, C. J. R. Sheppard, “Diffraction by striated muscle fibres: Application to image
modelling,” J. Bioimaging, Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 214-227, 1993.
J. T. Sheridan, R. Patten, “Holographic interferometry and the fractional Fourier
transformation,” Opt. Lett., Vol. 25, No. 7, pp. 448-451, 2000.
R. F. Patten, B. M. Hennelly, D. P. Kelly, F. T. O’Neill, Y. Liu, J. T. Sheridan, “Speckle
Photography: Mixed domain fractional Fourier motion detection,” Opt. Lett., Vol. 31, No. 1,
pp. 32-34, 2006. Republished in the Virtual Journal for Biomedical Optics Vol. 1, Iss. 2 – Feb.
10th, 2006.
J. P. Ryle, M. Al-Kalbani, N. Collins, U. Gopinathan, G. Boyle, D. Coakley, J. T. Sheridan, “A
compact portable ocular microtremor (OMT) sensor: Design, development and calibration,”
Journal of Biomedical Optics, Vol. 14, No. 1, Art. No. 014021, (12 pages), (Jan.-Feb.) 2009.
We regularly exchange students with collaborators in Spain, Germany and Canada and are also
involved in collaborative work with Workers in Local hospitals, e.g. Prof Davis Coakley, St James
Hospital and the Mercers Institute.