Iris AO History

Iris AO, Inc. was founded in 2002 in Berkeley, California and has been completely self-funded to date. Initial funding came from more than $125,000 in business plan competition winnings; subsequent funding has come through grants (including several from the Center for Adaptive Optics) and customer revenues - principally, a joint development partnership with a major optics company and consultancy fees related to research systems. We have demonstrated the efficacy of our technology with working prototypes, have filed several patents, and are currently moving rapidly toward full commercialization.

Iris AO Core Team:

Michael A. Helmbrecht, Ph.D., Co-founder / President
Michael A. Helmbrecht is one of the world’s few experts in Deformable Mirror MEMS processing techniques and mechanical design. He worked as a graduate student researcher and then a research associate at the Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center from 1995 - 2002, focusing on the design and fabrication of micro-mirrors for adaptive optics. He has also worked for Daimler Benz Forschung and Technik (Research and Technology) designing architectures and circuits for an electronic retina neural network. Michael received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at U.C. Berkeley.

Nathan Doble, Ph.D., Co-founder
Nathan brings to Iris AO extensive experience in the field of adaptive optics. Nathan joined Iris AO after the completion of his post-doctoral position at the Center for Visual Science at the University of Rochester, New York, the World’s premier center for vision science research utilizing adaptive optics. Nathan’s most recent work includes building the world’s first MEMS-based AO system for use in retinal imaging. Using this system, Nathan obtained the first-ever images of a living human retina using MEMS technology. Nathan was also a member of the team that created a system for use in providing the potential for 20/10 vision. This development was recently named one of the top innovations in healthcare for 2001 by Popular Science Magazine and has received other widespread press. Nathan’s previous work includes writing the AO algorithms used at the 4.2 meter William Herschel telescope in La Palma, Spain. Nathan holds a MSci with Honors in Laser Physics (1995) from the University of St. Andrews, UK, a MSc in Applied Optics (with distinction 1996) from Imperial College University of London, UK and a Ph.D. in Adaptive Optics (2000) from the University of Durham, UK.

Matthew Hart, Ph.D., Senior Optical MEMS Engineer
Matthew Hart has ten years experience in research and development in optics and MEMS. He was one of the first employees at Onix Microsystems, a developer of optical communications products, where he led the team responsible for testing and failure analysis of MEMS-based optical switches. Before that he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center at the University of California, Berkeley where he developed optical techniques for characterizing motion and deformation of MEMS structures. He holds a bachelors degree from the University of Oxford and a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh, UK.

Thor Juneau, Ph.D., Senior Mechanical Engineer
Dr. Thor Juneau has a wealth of MEMS and optical system experience, including micromachine design, system development, and optical mirror control. He earned a bachelors degree from Carnegie Mellon and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley. At UC Berkeley, he designed and tested the first dual-axis integrated MEMS gyroscope. After graduating, he was co-founder and president of Integrated Micro Instruments Inc. (IMI), a start-up dedicated to developing accelerometers and gyroscopes with dramatically improved performance. Thor served as the principal investigator on a $1.2 million DARPA BAA and was a key member of the development team that successfully completed 7 other SBIRs, STTRs, and direct contracts. After successful manufacturing process and prototype development, IMI was acquired by Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI). While employed at ADI, Thor was lead mechanical mirror designer for several optical laser switch products as well as team leader for the mirror electronic control group. He is a proven innovator with 12 technical publications, five issued patents, and 5 patents pending.

Paul M. Work, Interim COO
Paul is providing business leadership and legal expertise to Iris AO. Paul has held executive positions at Ariba, where he built and led a vertically-focused sales and marketing team as VP-Industry Solutions and at Oracle where he led product development for their online e-commerce site. In addition, he has held product management positions at Calico Commerce (acquired by PeopleSoft) and Digital Tools, and was a corporate and intellectual property attorney at Latham & Watkins. Paul has a BA from Dartmouth College, and JD and MBA degrees from Stanford University.

Scientific Advisory Board

In addition, Iris AO has assembled a world-class scientific advisory board including:

Professor Richard S. Muller, a MEMS pioneer and co-founder of the Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center

Professor Albert P. Pisano, co-director of the Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center and former program manager, DOD, DARPA MEMS program

Professor David R. Williams, an expert in applying adaptive optics to vision science and Director of the Center for Visual Science at the University of Rochester.