Researchers at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health are partnering with Bristol-based start-up Siloton to adapt a compact optical coherence tomography (OCT) system for use in children, with the aim of enabling more accessible monitoring of sight-threatening disease.
The project, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), will use Siloton’s Akepa platform, a chip-based OCT system designed to reduce the size and complexity of conventional imaging equipment. UCL researchers Ameenat Lola Solebo and Professor Marinko Sarunic will work with the company to modify the technology for pediatric use.
The adapted device is intended to support imaging in community settings and, potentially, in patients’ homes. According to the project team, this could reduce the need for repeated hospital visits while allowing clinicians to monitor children with potentially blinding disorders more closely.
“The work we have done at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and at Great Ormond Street Hospital has shown how transformational imaging can be,” said Solebo, who is also a consultant ophthalmologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital. “We want to bring this life-changing technology into children’s homes.”
Akepa incorporates more than 300 optical and electronic elements, with around 70% of the OCT system integrated onto a single chip smaller than a British £1 coin. The platform has been designed for use in a binocular-style device and was successfully trialled in an initial cohort of adults in 2025.
For pediatric use, researchers plan to adapt both the optics and physical design. The lenses will be adjusted to focus appropriately within children’s eyes, while the casing will be reshaped to better fit younger faces and reduce interference from ambient light.
Siloton CEO Alasdair Price said the technology could help address some of the practical challenges associated with pediatric imaging, including hospital travel, missed school, and the need to acquire high-quality scans quickly and comfortably. “Until now, our patient focus groups have largely involved adults, because age-related macular degeneration – the leading cause of sight loss in the UK – predominantly affects older people,” he explained. “But the fundamental principles of imaging the eye are the same, and with the right adaptations, Akepa can work just as effectively for children.”
The project will explore applications across a range of childhood eye conditions, including inherited retinal disease, diabetes-related changes, and abnormalities of the optic disc.
Source: Siloton.
