Keeping an eye on new bio-technologies
A bionic device developed over 20 years by doctors and scientists, is on target to help alleviate some forms of blindness.
The size of a pencil eraser, the bio-electronic implant sits on the outside of the eye and is positioned behind the retina, only a small plastic strip invades the actual eyeball. The device works as a light transmitter, with images delivered to the brain via a connector the width of a human hair.
It was important that the implant was delicate enough to hug the eye, but strong enough to withstand corrosion as saltwater has a corrosive effect on non-biological materials. So the team behind the implant developed a version that sits and works in a dish of saltwater. A new version is currently under development with an indefinite life span. It is expected that this new version will be implanted in an animal this summer.
Dr. Joseph Rizzo III, a member of the team behind the device, explained that although the implant will not restore perfect vision, it will provide patients with a sense of their surroundings - to detect shapes and obstacles in their pathways. Ideally, Rizzo and his team say, patients will someday be able to recognise objects, faces and general detail.
He explained: “The thing is to significantly improve the quality of life for blind patients. What level of achievement that would actually be is hard to know. The idea of not having to use the white cane - to walk around, find the sidewalk, not run into a telephone pole, not walk into a car. Being able to navigate safely in an unfamiliar environment, that’s the big topic.”
Only patients who were once able to see and have partially intact optic nerve cells are eligible for the procedure. People who are blind from birth or suffer from glaucoma are not.
Read more at The Boston Herald
Read more on: Bio Tech, Electronics
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