Ellis Meng is working hard to save people’s sight using a method that gets away from painful, risky injections.

Imagine getting injections directly into your eye. If you were going blind, you’d probably take the pain to save your sight. But Ellis Meng hopes she’s found a better solution.

Instead of putting patients through a tough regime of shots – which can cause infection and damage – Meng has devised a microfluidic pump that delivers medication safely and more easily.

Implanted on the eye’s outer surface, the tiny pump is refillable, so unlike other treatments to prevent blindness, it could require only one surgery and far fewer visits to the hospital.

A biomedical and electrical engineer, Meng is still perfecting her device but hopes to have it ready for human testing within five years.

Filed under: Biomedical, Electrical, Trailblazers

Tags: Biomedical, Electrical