OccuSciences plans to start conducting clinical trails on its new diabetes early detection technology in November.

If the tests go as expected the Ann Arbor-based start-up expects to go on a hiring binge within the next two years. The 1-year-old firm predicts a jump from its current staff of five people to 15 by the beginning of 2010. That could jump again to 25-30 people by the end of 2010.

OccuSciences is a University of Michigan spin-off created by professors Dr. Victor Elner and Howard Petty. It's main product is a technology that assesses metabolic stress in the retina of a human eye. Put simply, it scans an eye to detect whether the patient has diseases like diabetes or glaucoma.

"Our test measures how the actual cells and tissues are doing," says Matt Field, business manager with OccuSciences.

This allows optometrists to see if someone has (or is at risk of developing) diabetes or glaucoma 10-15 years before it can be detected through traditional testing. And it can be done as quickly and easily as a traditional eye test.

Right now, OccuSciences is using a $150,000 grant to develop a prototype of the technology. It plans to conduct testing through the latter part of this year, all of next year and into 2010. It hopes to begin commercialization (and job creation) soon after.

Source: Matt Field, business manager with OccuSciences
Writer: Jon Zemke