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Mars Base

Reseachers develop holographic technique for bionic vision - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...c-technique-bionic-vision.html

scibyte84 BionicEye

shared by Mars Base on 27 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • Researchers
  • are testing the power of holography to artificially stimulate cells in the eye, with hopes of developing a new strategy for bionic vision restoration
  • optogenetics
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • uses gene therapy to deliver light-sensitive proteins to damaged retinal nerve cells
  • The basic idea of optogenetics is to take a light-sensitive protein from another organism, typically from algae or bacteria, and insert it into a target cell, and that photosensitizes the cell
  • Intense pulses of light can activate nerve cells newly sensitized by this gene therapy approach
  • researchers around the world are still searching for the best way to deliver the light patterns so that the retina "sees" or responds in a nearly normal way
  • The plan is to someday develop a prosthetic headset or eyepiece that a person could wear to translate visual scenes into patterns of light that stimulate the genetically altered cells.
  • The key, they say, is to use a light stimulus that is intense, precise, and can trigger activity across a variety of cells all at once.
  • The researchers turned to holography after exploring other options, including laser deflectors and digital displays
  • Digital light displays can stimulate many nerve cells at once, "but they have low light intensity and very low light efficiency
  • The genetically repaired cells are less sensitive to light than normal healthy retinal cells, so they preferably need a bright light source like a laser to be activated
  • Lasers give intensity, but they can't give the parallel projection
  • needed to see a complete picture
  • researchers have tested the potential of holographic stimulation in retinal cells in the lab
  • done some preliminary work with the technology in living mice with damaged retinal cells
  • The experiments show that holography can provide reliable and simultaneous stimulation of multiple cells at millisecond speeds.
  • implementing a holographic prosthesis in humans is far in the future
  • holography itself "also provides a very interesting path toward three-dimensional stimulation
Mars Base

Retinal implants with wireless microchip restore functional vision in retinitis pigment... - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...less-microchip-functional.html

scibyte83 BionicEye

shared by Mars Base on 20 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • research found that, during the course of a three to nine month observation period, functional vision was restored in the majority of nine German patients implanted with a subretinal microchip as part of the first module of the Company's second human clinical trial
  • visual acuity for two of the nine patients surpassed the visual resolution of patients from the Company's first human clinical trial
  • Patients were implanted with Retina Implant AG's subretinal wireless 3x3 mm2, 1500 pixel Alpha IMS microchip and are able to adjust the level of stimulation received to view objects at varied distances
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Of the nine patients observed in the study, three patients were able to read letters spontaneously
  • During observation in and outside the laboratory patients also reported the ability to recognize faces, distinguish objects such as telephones and read signs on doors
  • Results from the first trial
  • concluding that the implantation of Retina Implant's microchip was successful in restoring useful vision in patients previously blind due to retinitis pigmentosa
  • second clinical trial with a wireless device that allows patients to use the implant outdoors and at home
  • has since expanded into the multicentre phase
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