April 4. Klear Optix, a med-tech startup, has leased  500 square feet of lab and office space in the David H. Murdock Core Laboratory Building at the NC Research Campus. Launched two months ago by Concord resident Ramazan Benrashid, Klear is involved in developing “smart” contact lenses. One project for Clear is “scaling up” a material so that it can pass FDA requirements and then move from research and development to manufacturing. Klear is also developing a new material with higher oxygen permeability that will be the future generation of rigid contact lenses.

Benrashid has considerable experience in developing materials for opto-electronic applications, coating biocompatible polymers and contact lenses. Benrashid and his partner Ali Dahi say they hope to expand into adjacent laboratory space in the next year to accommodate additional testing and development. Dahi is a co-founder of California-based Synergeyes, a company that develops and manufactures hybrid contact lens for stigmatism, presbyopia and irregular cornea conditions.

Klear Optix is the third startup company in the past six months to lease space in the Core Laboratory Building.