US Science Alliance for Bionic Eye

The Register reported that nine US research institutions, including five of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) laboratories, joined in an alliance to create a miniature disc that simulates a retina.

All institutions involved in the program will share any intellectual property rights and resulting royalties. In this way, the architects of the agreement hope to encourage free sharing of information, ideas and results. Second Sight Medical Products, the only private company involved in the alliance, will have a limited, exclusive license for inventions that come out of the work.
 
Spencer Abraham, US Secretary of Energy, said: “This project is one such example where biology, physics, and engineering have joined forces to deliver a capability that will enable blind people to see. This agreement between the DOE laboratories and the private sector will facilitate transfer of many aspects of DOE technology to a clinical device that has the potential of restoring sight to millions of blind individuals.”
 
The artificial retina could help those blinded by age-related macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa, where neural wiring from the eye to brain is intact, but the eyes lack photoreceptor activity. The artificial retina is a device that captures visual signals and sends them to the brain in the form of electrical impulses. The device is a miniature disk that contains an electrode array that can be implanted in the back of the eye to replace a damaged retina. Visual signals are captured by a small video camera in the eyeglasses of the blind person and processed through a microcomputer worn on a belt. The signals are transmitted to the electrode array in the eye. The array stimulates optical nerves, which then carry a signal to the brain. The first prototype implants contain 16 electrodes. The next prototype, with 50-100 electrodes, is in preclinical trials. The project’s “next generation” device would have 1,000 electrodes and hopefully would allow the user to see images.
 
Source: The Register