Summary: MiEye is a lightweight wearable sensor that tracks the impact of light exposure on circadian rhythms to improve sleep and mental well-being, and treat chronic health conditions. The device, which provides real-time feedback via a smartphone app, aims to help users manage light exposure for better overall health and will be available to clinicians and researchers in 2025, with plans for public release.
Key Takeaways:
- Purpose of MiEye: The MiEye wearable sensor monitors light exposure across 11 channels to help manage circadian rhythms, aiming to improve sleep, mental well-being, and treat chronic health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension.
- Light’s Role in Health: The device emphasizes the critical impact of light on overall health, encouraging healthier light exposure patterns by providing real-time feedback via a smartphone app.
- Innovative Collaboration: The MiEye sensor is a product of collaboration between Monash University’s Faculty of Medicine, SensiLab, and Circadian Health Innovations, highlighting interdisciplinary innovation.
A new wearable device developed by Monash University researchers will help to record the impact of artificial light on our bodies for sound sleep, improved mental well-being, and treating chronic health conditions.
The MiEye sensor is the brainchild of circadian biology professors Sean W. Cain and Andrew Phillips, PhD, from the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences.
Jon McCormack, Elliott Wilson, and Rowan Page, PhD, professors from SensiLab—a joint lab between the Faculty of Information Technology and the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture—worked on making the MiEye device wearable and adapted it for commercial production.
When worn, the 10-gram device, which senses light over 11 channels, records the impact of any light source, such as fluorescent light, overhead LED, sunsets, phone light, and other device light on the wearer. It then sends feedback to a smartphone application, which calculates the impact of ambient light on our body clock.
In a release, research lead and professor Cain says our light behavior is fundamental to all aspects of our health. “By providing feedback on light environments, we are trying to make people more conscious of their exposure to different types of light and guide them towards healthier light exposure patterns,” he says. “By helping to manage circadian rhythms, MiEye will be a powerful clinical tool that can aid in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, mental health issues, cardiovascular disease and hypertension, and generally improve health and longevity.”
The MiEye sensor has been developed for public use by Circadian Health Innovations, a spin-off company founded by the lead researchers of the project. Circadian Health Innovations co-founder and chief technology officer Phillips, an associate professor, says the device is available to select researchers and will be more widely available to clinicians and researchers in 2025.
“Ultimately we aim to have the device available to the public where people can use it to get real-time feedback and understand as well as manage their exposure to different types of light. This can be especially useful for travelers suffering from jet lag and shift workers,” Phillips says in a release.
In its development stage, the MiEye sensor won an Australian Good Design award in 2022 in the “Design Research” category.
“For it to be a feasible wearable device, we designed MiEye to be as compact and light as possible while still incorporating the required sensors from the technological point of view,” SensiLab engineer Wilson says in a release.
Research for the MiEye project was funded by the Monash Institute of Medical Engineering and commercialization was made possible through Monash Innovation.
“This new device is a shining example of synergy between quality research and enterprise to produce tangible health outcomes and positively impact communities,” Monash Innovation chief commercialisation officer Alastair Hick, PhD, says in a release.
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