A team of engineers at the University of California San Diego and La Jolla-based startup Nanovision Biosciences Inc. have developed the nanotechnology and wireless electronics for a new type of retinal prosthesis that could potentially help people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases that affect eyesight, including macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa and loss of vision due to diabetes.
The new prosthesis reportedly relies on two technologies — an array of silicon nanowires that simultaneously sense light and electrically stimulate the retina accordingly, and a wireless device that can transmit power and data to the nanowires over the same wireless link at record speed and energy efficiency.
The research team were reportedly able to demonstrate the technology's capability to restore the ability of neurons in the retina to respond to light in a rat retina interfacing with a prototype of the device in vitro. Now the team is reportedly undergoing animal tests with the device, with clinical trials to follow.
The research was recently published in the Journal of Neural Engineering.
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Source: University of California, San Diego