NASA Talk is High Tech Prescription for Contact Lenses

HAMPTON, Va., July 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Imagine your contact lenses being able to improve your vision and tell your temperature.  

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On Tuesday, Aug. 3, at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Professor Babak Parviz, from the University of Washington presents, "What If Your Contact Lens Could Show You Images" at 2 p.m. in the Reid Conference Center. Parviz will provide an overview of the process it took to build contact lenses to display and monitor information about a person's health.

Media who wish to interview Parviz at a news briefing at NASA Langley at 1:15 p.m., Tuesday should contact Chris Rink at 864-6786 or by e-mail at [email protected] by noon on the day of the talk for credentials and entry to the center.

On Tuesday evening, Parviz will present a similar talk for the general public at 7:30 p.m. at the Virginia Air & Space Center in downtown Hampton. The evening presentation is free and no reservations are required.

Through advancements in nanotechnology, Parviz will explain the how contact lenses have been converted into systems that can complete extraordinary tasks.  

Researchers at the University of Washington are working on integrating small optical, electronic and biosensing devices into contact lenses. The lenses are designed to display information to the user and to continuously monitor the person's health through the biochemistry of the eye surface.

Parviz' research at the University of Washington includes nanotechnology, bionanotechnolgy and microsystems. His work was chosen by Time magazine as one of the top inventions of the year in 2008 and is on display at the London Museum of Science.

Parviz attended the University of Michigan, earning graduate degrees in physics and electrical engineering and studied chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Review selected Parviz as one of the top innovators under the age of 35 in 2007. He is also the recipient of the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award for his exceptional integration of education and research.

For more information about NASA Langley's Colloquium and Sigma Series Lectures:

http://shemesh.larc.nasa.gov/Lectures/

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SOURCE NASA