Boston – September 16, 2026 -- PerZeption Inc. has secured a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Eye Institute to fund development of a new photostress recovery test for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a condition affecting an estimated 20 million people in the United States.
NEI Funds Photostress Recovery Test for Earlier AMD Detection
The award backs the project "Efficient Achromatic and Chromatic Photostress Recovery Assessment for Age-related Macular Degeneration," which will be carried out in collaboration with researchers at the Brunson Center for Translational Vision Research at the University of California, Irvine. The work targets how quickly vision recovers after bright-light exposure, a marker of macular health that can reveal functional deficits before they show up on standard acuity tests.
New Test Replaces Single Recovery Threshold with Full Function Mapping
Current photostress testing collapses recovery into a single time measurement, requires specialized equipment and trained staff, and has seen limited clinical adoption as a result. PerZeption's funded project will build an achromatic and chromatic test on its Angular Indication Measurement (AIM) platform that characterizes the entire recovery function rather than one threshold, aiming to produce a more detailed picture of macular health suited to routine clinical use.
SBIR Peer Review Signals Clinical Validation for AIM Platform
"An estimated 20 million people live with AMD in the United States alone. Detecting functional deficits caused by the disease early is a critical issue in eye care," said Jan Skerswetat, PhD, Founder and CEO of PerZeption. Because SBIR awards undergo peer review by vision scientists and clinicians, the grant follows earlier AIM validation studies published in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, Optometry and Vision Science, and, earlier this month, Scientific Reports.
Phase I Data Will Support Regulatory Pathway and Clinical Rollout
The Phase I project is designed to generate the clinical data needed to establish feasibility and support PerZeption's regulatory pathway. The company's stated objective is to give eye care providers a fast, repeatable, sensitive, and quantitative measure of macular function that fits within routine clinical workflow, building on an AIM platform that already tests more than 20 visual functions on standard tablets and phones.