Vanessa Restrepo-Schild, a Dphil student and researcher in the department of chemistry at Oxford University, reportedly led a team of researchers to develop a new synthetic, double layered retina that closely mimics the natural human retinal process.
The retina replica reportedly consists of hydrogels and biological cell membrane proteins. Designed like a camera, the cells act as pixels, detecting and reacting to light to create a grey scale image. According to Restrepo-Schild, the synthetic materials can generate electrical signals that stimulate neurons at the back of the eye just like the original retina.
Restrepo-Schild is reportedly in the process of filing a patent for her technology and planning the next phase of her work, including expanding the replica's function to include color recognition and eventually moving on to animal testing and human clinical trials.
The research was recently published in the journal Scientific Reports.
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Source: Oxford University