Undergraduate Students Invent Life-Saving Contact Lens and Win Multiple Competitions

Congratulations to Luke Benoit (Optical Sciences and Engineering BS Major); Sydney Arriaga (Neuro and Cognitive Science Major), Joey McAllister (Engineering Management Major), and Junna Stockwell (Accounting Major) for their biomedical startup RevoLens. This innovative new technology aims to produce smart wearables built to not only be useful but also to save lives! This past year, RevoLens has won Best Investability, Viability, Communications and Fluency, and Social Impact awards at the iExpo (February) ($1000 total) and second place at the New Venture Competition (NVD) (May 14) and Bear Down and Pitch (May 20) totally $5000 in award-monies.

These competitions and support for the students developing RevoLens were organized by the one-year program in the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship New Venture Development Program, part of the Eller College of Management. RevoLens is the only team to be a finalist for every single event of the year! Beyond their success in competitions, RevoLens is introducing technology that has the potential to bring smart wearables to the next-level of healthcare data collection and support.

RevoLens was a student-driven project initiated by a theoretical discussion at a conference in San Diego last summer between team leader, Luke, and Dr. Jim Schwiegerling. Since then, the team has taken the technology from a simple conversation to a wearable product design capable of monitoring and detecting a number of health concerns.

The RevoOne, the teams first prototype design, can detect and monitor blood glucose levels in real-time, as well as correct any vision errors due to high blood pressure. Using microLEDs and gratings structures built into the contact lens, the device uses optical absorbance spectroscopy technology to achieve a variety of goals. The “pupil area” of the lens features a metasurface that corrects for axial color errors due to damaged photoreceptors in the eye. Diabetic retinopathy can damage the retina and cause aberrations to the eye, so a metasurface can act as a chromatic corrector depending on the chromatic aberration, or color distortion, of the eye.

"We aim to build more wearables around other health issues, from eye diseases such as glaucoma to everyday issues such as allergies and even as advanced as Alzheimer’s detection," said Luke about the team's future. 

RevoLens plans are to launch through the University of Arizona Center for Innovation (UACI) and meetings are currently underway.

The initial concept was inspired by Luke's desire to save lives. After the sudden passing of his father, Cedric Benoit, Luke knew he had to make a difference in other peoples' lives with his and his team's creative minds and knowledge. Luke says, "My dad died very suddenly and had health issues no one was aware of. Our slogan is to "Save Lives, One Lens at a Time". We hope our technology will non-invasively detect catastrophic health events before they ever happen."

Congratulations to Luke, Sydney, Joey, and Junna! 

More about the team

Luke Benoit
Undergraduate, Wyant College of Optical Sciences & College of Engineering
Major: Optical Sciences & Engineering, Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Future Plans: Graduating in May 2023. Pursue the launch of RevoLens with UACI.

Sydney Arriaga
Undergraduate, College of Science
Major: Neuroscience & Cognitive Science
Future Plans: Pursue a MD/PhD

Joey McAllister
Undergraduate, College of Engineering
Major: Engineering Management
Future Plans: Graduating in May 2023. Moving to Austin, TX to work with Dell EMC. Joey will continue to work with Luke on RevoLens to develop a prototype and move through the FDA process.

Junna Stockwell
Undergraduate, Eller College of Management
Major: Accounting, Entrepreneurship, Japanese 
Future Plans: Graduating this May 2023, moving into full time opportunity with a local public accounting firm. Junna hopes to continue as an advisor for RevoLens.

More about the New Venture Development (NVD) Program

The McGuire New Venture Development Program brings students, experts and business leaders together to launch something bigger than any textbook or classroom could hold. Here, people build ideas and nurture inspiration into innovation. Any University of Arizona undergraduate or graduate student can participate in this yearlong, team-based program to learn the principles of entrepreneurship and innovation.

In just one year, you’ll build a new venture from the ground up. Working closely with students from other fields of study as well as mentors, industry experts, investors and real-world entrepreneurs, you’ll go from early-stage idea to launch-ready venture. Not only is the program excellent preparation to lead in the business world, but it will change your way of thinking. In fact, you’ll never look at an untapped idea quite the same way again.

Learn more about the NVD Program