A young inventor from Canada is making headlines after she created a specialized set of contact lenses that can correct color blindness.

Gabrielle Masone, 28, became inspired to create these contact lenses because of her own personal issues with her eyesight that she experienced as a child.

“When I was little, I had an eye condition called amblyopia that made me lose vision in one of my eyes,” she explained.

In 2017, Gabrielle launched Colorsmith Labs Inc. with the goal of inventing corrective lenses. Less than two years later, after teaming up with scientists from St. Mary’s University in Halifax, Gabrielle has accomplished this goal!

Gabrielle is hoping that her invention will save others from having to wear bulky, unfashionable glasses.

“I mean, not everyone wants to walk around in tinted glasses, you know?” she said with a laugh. “We all love Bono [U2’s lead singer] but no one wants to look like him every day.”

Danielle Tokarz, a professor with Saint Mary’s University chemistry department, is helping Gabrielle perfect the lenses.

“We’ve made the functional nanoparticles which is super exciting, and we’re just optimizing them,” she said. “But we are in the testing phase of actually starting to put them in contact lenses.”

Now, Gabrielle and her team are looking for a $1.5 million investment to help them finish this project and bring the lenses to the masses. These lenses could change millions of lives all over the world, and we applaud Gabrielle and her team for figuring out how to make them!