Electric eye Part Two : An Effort to solve the Problem

In my last post I have told you how big problem 'Blindness' is and now I am going to tell you about an organization which is trying to get a revolutionary solution for this problem.

'Boston Retinal Implant Project' founded by 'Dr. Joseph Rizzo 'and 'Professor John Wyatt' is trying to develop a microelectronic retinal implant to restore functional vision to patients with certain forms of retinal blindness.

Though there are involved many specialist in this project and this touches many areas but mainly this project is composed of two main components-

Biology-

The biological components have two main issue-

1- optimal parameters of electrical stimulation of the retina

2-ideal biocompatible materials that will ultimately be used for the retinal prosthesis.

To solve these issues they are making experiments on animals and doing electrophysiological recordings from neurons of the visual system to determine the electrical stimulation parameters necessary to generate visual percepts

Engineering-

This is the most tough and key component of the project. Engineers are dealing with conception, designing, and implementation of the retinal prosthesis.

Challenges- 
What do you think? Is solution of such a big problem will be simple?No, there are many challenges in this approach. The importance of device stability stems from the fact that the microelectronics have to function properly within the relatively harsh environment of the human body. This represents a major challenge in developing implantable devices with long-term system performance while reducing their overall size. 

 

Long-term biocompatibility is one of the most significant challenges to be met in order to develop a successful retinal prosthesis. We have worked to identify implantable and biologically safe materials that can be microfabricated into exceptionally thin and flexible structures.

Progress till now-

Currently, the engineering division of the Boston Retinal Implant Project is developing and testing prototype implants for the next round of animal and human trials. The team is also working on the design of next generation prototype of the prosthesis. 

Key to the current prosthesis is a custom designed, low power analog and mixed signal integrated circuit (IC) chip.

So what is the hope?

So after knowing so much about this all what do you think? I am a very optimistic and so I hope soon they will launch their final product and this artificial eye will be available commercially. Are you optimistic enough ???