Shedding light on many subjects
Pictured above Prof Dainty with members of the Applied Optics Research Group, NUIG
Without light, and optics, there would be no life on Earth. Optics underpins solar cell technology, lighting and displays, as well as medical techniques and communications. It is expected that optics, also referred to as photonics, will surpass electronics in the 21st century in terms of the size of the industry reliant on it. Prof Chris Dainty, as Head of the Applied Optics Group at NUI Galway, is involved in applying optics to many fields, including medicine and astronomy.
Prof Dainty’s research is concerned with the technical applications of optics in many areas, and one of these has to do with human vision. Here, he has collaborations with several companies concerned with intra-ocular lenses that are used in cataract operations. Many elderly people get cataract operations, when their own lens begins to get cloudy, and a better plastic lens is put in its place.
Those having cataract surgery can potentially attain better eyesight than they ever had, even in their youth. It can also leave them not requiring eye glasses any more. It is the world’s biggest surgical procedure, with more than 14 million operations performed per year. Ireland will see the numbers of procedures grow as the population ages in the coming years.
Prof Dainty’s team has built a machine – one of only a handful in the world – called an ‘Adaptive Optics Visual Simulator’. This machine is capable of assessing the potential impact of several lenses on a person before they undergo eye surgery. The patient can sit in front of the machine and say whether they see better or worse with a particular synthetic lens. This means that when the lens is actually inserted in the patient’s eye during surgery, there is a greater confidence that it will improve sight.
This machine is important for companies that wish to test out new lenses designed for use in eye surgery, such as cataract operations. In the past, what would have to happen is that trials would have to be done with new lenses using real people. These are expensive, and they raise ethical considerations as there are risks to people involved in the trial. With the Adaptive Optics Simulator, field trials are only done at the very end of the process, when the capability of a lens has already been rigorously tested.
In this way, Prof Dainty and his team are working with leading companies to improve the design of intra-ocular lenses. His collaborations in this field also involve leading eye surgeons, including Michael O’Keeffe and Colm O’Brien, based at the Mater Hospital, Dublin.
Prof. Dainty has a Diploma in Photographic Technology from Regent Street Polytechnic (1968). He did his post-graduate work at Imperial College, London, where he gained at MSc (1969) and a PhD (1972). He worked at Imperial College up to 2002 and remains on an extended leave of absence from there. He has interactions with more than 20 companies across many areas where optical technology can be applied, and has been involved recently in the concept study for the €900 million European Extra-Large Telescope, which will become the world’s largest telescope when built.
