(Click to enlarge)
Bionic Vision Australia has a goal to develop a functioning retinal prosthesis, or bionic eye, which is able to deliver improvement in sight to patients with inherited and degenerative retinal diseases.
Our first advanced prototype is targeted to deliver ambulatory vision to patients who suffer from severe mobility and light perception issues, thereby delivering significantly improved quality of life for patients. Patients would be able to contrast light from dark and move more independently, with the ability to distinguish large objects and to avoid walking into them. They will be able to see outlines such as buildings, cars and park benches. This prototype should be ready for the first human implant in 2011.
Our second prototype builds on the development of the first advanced prototype, delivering significantly improved resolution and providing patients with the ability to recognize faces and read large print. It will target patients where image perception is an issue and is expected to restore vision to an acuity of better than 20/80. At this resolution, a person is mobile and able to read large somewhere between the second and third line of a Snellen chart. The second prototype should be available for the first human implant in 2013.
The surgery and clinical trials for both the first advanced prototype and the second prototype will take place at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne.
Our first advanced prototype is targeted to deliver ambulatory vision to patients who suffer from severe mobility and light perception issues, thereby delivering significantly improved quality of life for patients. Patients would be able to contrast light from dark and move more independently, with the ability to distinguish large objects and to avoid walking into them. They will be able to see outlines such as buildings, cars and park benches. This prototype should be ready for the first human implant in 2011.
(Click to enlarge)
The surgery and clinical trials for both the first advanced prototype and the second prototype will take place at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne.
(Click to enlarge)
The second prototype retinal prosthesis to be developed by Bionic Vision Australia has significantly more electrodes spaced at distances much closer to the ganglion cells and consequently recruiting a smaller group of ganglion cells. The proposed device has in excess of a thousand electrodes as well as the capability to change the stimulating waveforms whilst the device is implanted. The proposed device has a high speed bi directional data link. This will allow both measurement and adaptation of the implanted device parameters.
Our fully integrated single implant device will incorporate the following leading-edge technology:
- Integrated circuit technology that is the best available anywhere in the world and enables a high density, bi-directional and fully steerable electrode array design.
- Wireless technology capable of gigabit communication speeds.
- A design that includes on a single chip the wireless capability, battery technology, camera and antenna.
(Click to enlarge)
(Click to enlarge)
The general description of how our first advanced and second prototype bionic eyes will work is described in the image on the left.
