The Centre for New Technologies in Medicine (CNTM) develops new medical diagnostic techniques with special emphasis on the area of eye fundus imaging.

The eye offers unique opportunities to obtain in a non-invasive manner information on the body, in general and of the retina and brain in particular. It is, in fact, a window to the body. We are particularly interested in methodologies that allow repeated observations and measurements in order to identify early alterations that may allow timely therapeutical interventions, e.g., precision medicine.

Our group has been able to identify biomarkers of disease progression, such as microaneurysm turnover in diabetic retinopathy identified automatically by software developed in-house, the Retmarker®, and identify non-invasively changes in the Blood-Retinal Barrier in the retina, using a novel patented algorithm, the OCT-Leakage.

The work developed in CNTM led to the following international patents:

– Ocular Fluorometer for Clinical Use, US Patent n.º 6,013,034

– Method and Apparatus for Measuring Quantity of a Fluorochrome in a Biological Environment, WO/2008/067525

– System for Analysing Ocular Fundus Images, US Patent n.º 7,856,135