A Rapid Tear Recovery Device for Diagnostic and Investigative Purposes

• Ameera Lodhi
• Suha Mohiuddin
• Naima Muckom
• Farhin Patel
• Yanyu Qian

Advisors: Anthony E. Felder, PhD, Miiri Kotche, PhD

Sponsor: Sandeep Jain

Dry-eye disease (DED) is a multifactorial disease that results in ocular dryness and discomfort. It results in proteomic, lipidomic, and metabolic changes to the ocular surface. Thus, analyzing the tear film provides diagnostic and prognostic assessment of DED and other related diseases. However, there is no standard method for collecting tears and current methods used by ophthalmologists are difficult, time-consuming, and resource demanding. For example, at UIC, only one highly-trained ophthalmologist analyzes tears, requiring a slit lamp, two research assistants, and eight glass capillary tubes. The design objective is to collect tear samples using a suction mechanism that directs the collection of fluid directly into the Eppendorf tube. The proposed device has two components: a disposable handheld component applied to the eye during tear collection and a reusable tabletop component containing a 5V vacuum pump powered by two rechargeable AA batteries and switched on and off with a pushbutton. The handheld component is an airtight acrylic tube enclosure housing soft, medical-grade silicone tubing and an Eppendorf tube sealed with a complementary grommet and drilled plug. The vacuum pump creates negative pressure inside the handheld component, causing the sample to be suctioned directly into the Eppendorf tube. There is a duplicate pen component to avoid cross-contamination between eyes. Our device was required to collect at least 35µL of 50 µL buffer solution, which is the minimum volume required for meaningful analysis. Testing was done on solutions with viscosities equivalent to those typical of tears. Preliminary testing demonstrated the device’s ability to recover 80% of the sample volume. Collection time averaged 3-5 seconds depending on the viscosity of the fluid. In conclusion, this device enables fast, high-yield collection of tear volume while minimizing patient discomfort. Further development of this class II device will allow for consistent, rapid tear sampling by a single minimally-trained practitioner.

See supporting documentation in the team’s Box drive.