| Bionic Vision Australia puts bionic eye in sight |
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Tuesday, 6 July 2010 |
Professor Robyn Guymer from the Centre for Eyer Research Australia (CERA), reflects on the research challenges of developing a bionic eye and the promise it holds for restoring sight at the 2010 Gerard Crock Lecture.
Professor Guymer is leading the team of researchers from CERA in their contibution to the work of the Bionic Vision Australia consortium to develop an advanced bionic eye.
Visit the CERA website for more information and to download the lecture. |
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Bionic Vision Australia puts bionic eye in sight |
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Tuesday, 30 March 2010 00:00 |
Bionic Vision Australia (BVA) today unveils their wide-view neurostimulator concept – a prototype bionic eye that will be implanted into Australia’s first recipient of the technology.
The prototype, developed by BVA researchers at the University of New South Wales and unveiled today at the BVA consortium’s official launch at the University of Melbourne, will deliver improved quality of life for patients suffering from degenerative vision loss caused by retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration.
The device, which is currently undergoing testing, consists of a miniature camera mounted on glasses that captures visual input, transforming it into electrical signals that directly stimulate surviving neurons in the retina. The implant will enable recipients to perceive points of light in the visual field that the brain can then reconstruct into an image.
Research Director of Bionic Vision Australia and Professor of Engineering at the University of Melbourne, Professor Anthony Burkitt says the device will deliver life-changing vision for recipients.
“We anticipate that this retinal implant will provide users with increased mobility and independence, and that future versions of the implant will eventually allow recipients to recognise faces and read large print,” he says.
Bionic Vision Australia Chairman, Professor Emeritus David Penington AC says the BVA team’s outstanding expertise will be the key to delivering their ambitious goal of providing bionic vision within the next five years.
“This is an exciting moment in our venture. The team’s success is based on our world class multi-disciplinary approach which uses vision clinicians, retinal surgeons, neuroscientists, biomedical and electrical engineers from across the nation,” he says.
BVA is a partnership of world-leading Australian research institutions collaborating to develop an advanced retinal prosthesis, or bionic eye, to restore the sense of vision to people with degenerative or inherited retinal disease. The partners of Bionic Vision Australia are the University of Melbourne, the University of New South Wales, the Bionic Ear Institute, the Centre for Eye Research Australia and NICTA.
In December 2009 Bionic Vision Australia (BVA) was awarded $42 million from the Federal Government. Professor Penington says the grant, provided over four years, will take the team to the point where commercial development of an implant at the back of the eye, responding to wireless transmission of vision, will become a reality.
Retinitis Pigmentosa sufferer Leighton Boyd says this exciting development gives him hope that he will once again be able to see the faces of his loved ones.
EVENT DETAILS
WHAT: Bionic Vision Australia’s unveiling of their bionic eye design.
WHEN: Tuesday, 30 March, 10:15am for 10:30am start – 11:00am
LOCATION: Brown lecture theatre, Ground Floor, Electrical Engineering Building (Bldg 193), University of Melbourne.
For more information contact: Emma O’Neill, Media Unit, University of Melbourne on 03 83447220 or 0432758734.
THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE HAS AN ON-CAMPUS STUDIO THAT CAN FACILITATE LIVE CROSSES TO TELEVISION STATIONS ACROSS AUSTRALIA. |
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Bionic eye in sight thanks to $42 million |
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Tuesday, 15 December 2009 15:07 |
Leading Australian researchers have welcomed an announcement today by the Australian Government of $42M in funding for the development of a bionic eye capable of restoring vision to the blind.
Bionic Vision Australia is a consortium including the University of Melbourne, the University of New South Wales, the Bionic Ear Institute, the Centre for Eye Research Australia and NICTA. The project is also supported by researchers from the Australian National University and the University of Western Sydney.
Bionic Vision Australia Chairman, Professor Emeritus David Penington AC says the consortium is honoured to have been selected by the Australian Research Council for this funding.
“This opportunity will allow our team to use its outstanding know-how and expertise to develop a functioning retinal implant that will deliver profound benefits to sufferers of degenerative vision loss such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration,” he says.
Research Director of Bionic Vision Australia and Professor of Engineering at the University of Melbourne, Professor Anthony Burkitt, says the research program to develop a retinal implant is ambitious but that the expertise in the team makes it achievable.
The new device will use a video camera - fixed to a patient’s glasses - to capture images which are then translated into electrical impulses that stimulate electrodes inserted into the retina. The resulting electrical impulses stimulate the same area of the retina usually activated by visual cues, and over time the patient learns to interpret these nerve signals as useful vision.
Professor Nigel Lovell from UNSW’s Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering says this funding means life-changing bionic vision is now a step closer.
Head of the Macular Research Unit at the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA), and Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Melbourne, Dr Robyn Guymer says the new device will provide a greater benefit for patients than existing bionic eyes. “This advanced bionic eye will not only provide users with increased mobility and independence, but hopefully also enable them to recognize faces and read large print,” she says.
Professor Rob Shepherd, the Director of the Bionic Ear Institute, says that Australia has been a world leader in medical bionics with the development of the bionic ear. “The funding announced today by Senator Carr promises to continue our nation’s leadership in innovation, discovery and commercialization in medical bionics”, he says.
Chief Executive Officer of Australia’s Information and Communications Technology Research Centre of Excellence (NICTA) Dr David Skellern, says he is thrilled that NICTA will be applying its advanced microelectronics and visual signal processing expertise to the bionic eye device development program. NICTA will collaborate with other BVA members to develop the implant’s hardware, communications and visual processing system.
The first human implant is likely to occur in 2013 and take place at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne. |
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Bionic Vision Australia welcomes Australian Government announcement on bionic eye funding |
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Thursday, 23 April 2009 00:00 |
The Chairman of Bionic Vision Australia, Professor Emeritus David Penington, today welcomed the announcement by the Prime Minister of funding of $50.7m over four years to support the development of an advanced bionic eye in Australia.
"Bionic Vision Australia congratulates the Australian Government on its announcement that it will allocate $50.7m over four years towards the development of a bionic eye. This funding will build on Australia’s track record in developing the bionic ear, and recognises the importance of maintaining Australia’s position at the forefront of medical bionics”, Professor Penington said.
“We also welcome the decision to implement a rigorous selection process to select the team or teams best placed to develop a functional bionic eye. I am delighted that Bionic Vision Australia has been able to assemble a team of world-class experts across several disciplines who possess the necessary skills and expertise to address this exciting opportunity. This team will build further on their decade-long, internationally respected expertise in bionic vision research. We look forward to submitting a detailed proposal to the Government to make this vision a reality”, he said. |
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Research "A" team to fast track Bionic Eye – Australian consortium announced today |
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Thursday, 13 November 2008 07:08 |
Tens of thousands of people with severe vision loss are set to benefit after the announcement today of a landmark partnership of world-leading Australian research institutes. Bionic Vision Australia will pursue the development of the most technologically advanced bionic eye to improve the sight of people with degenerative or inherited retinal disease.
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