Bristol Start-Up Shrinks Hospital Eye Scanner Onto a Chip Smaller Than a £1 Coin

The Bristol-based company Siloton has secured an £8.4 million^[1] contract from Innovate UK to create a handheld retinal scanner that will enable hospital-standard eye imaging in general practice surgeries, by opticians, and ultimately in people’s homes.

At its core the technology uses a photonic chip called BlueJay; this chip packs the optics needed for optical coherence tomography - a scanning method normally done with a desktop machine costing tens of thousands of pounds - onto a chip small enough to balance on your fingernail.

Ophthalmology is the busiest outpatient specialty within the NHS, with around nine million appointments^[2] each year. Currently, over 623,000^[3] people are waiting for eye care. Siloton’s device, the GiraffeOCT, could allow clinicians to screen patients outside hospitals and detect conditions like age-related macular degeneration earlier, when treatment is most effective.

How it happened

Siloton was set up in Bristol and received an Institute of Physics^[4] business innovation award in 2023. In 2024 it became the first commercial organisation^[5] to obtain subsurface images of a human retina using its first-generation Akepa photonic chip. The following year, they carried out their first patient trial, imaging retinas to detect and monitor age-related macular degeneration. A second group of patients was imaged in early 2026.

The £8.4 million contract, announced in October 2026, will cover two years of clinical development. Siloton will carry out clinical trials on an in-clinic version of GiraffeOCT at Sunderland Specialist Eye Hospital^[6]. The trials will involve a prototype with better ergonomics and extra post-processing, moving the product beyond research use to one suitable for everyday clinical use.

Alasdair Price, who is the CEO of Siloton, stated that the contract “will shorten the time it takes to bring the medical device to market by one to two years”.

The identical BlueJay chip architecture is also being used in a system intended for astronauts, although Siloton has not yet released details about that project.

Two versions planned

Siloton is creating GiraffeOCT in two forms: the in-clinic version is a handheld device used by qualified clinicians, and the at-home version includes built-in automation and guidance that enable patients to take their own retinal images without a clinician present.

A research device of second generation, the CheetahOCT, is expected around early 2027; it will be capable of measuring the various layers of the retina and of detecting a broader range of conditions. Price stated, “The image performance^[7] will be considerably better, with the result that the number of biomarkers it can be used to measure will increase.”

The company anticipates that its workforce will have increased to 16 employees by August 2028.

What this means for you

Biomedical engineering is one of the fastest-growing areas in the UK. It lies where physics, electronics, software, and medicine come together, as shown by companies like Siloton demonstrating what a small group of engineers can accomplish.

If you find this work attractive, consider degree courses in biomedical engineering, photonics, or electronic engineering focused on medical technology. The universities at Bristol, Leeds, and Imperial College London offer good programmes. Siloton originated from research into photonic integrated circuits, showing how academic research can lead directly to startups.

The NHS Long Term Plan promises to increase diagnostic capacity outside hospitals. This creates demand for engineers who can design, build, and maintain portable medical devices. This career directly improves people’s lives. For more information about engineering careers, please see further.