Progress towards bionic eye implants

Bionic eye technology has long lagged behind the science fictional portrayal. Although some progress has been made towards restoring sight using electronics and implants, the level of sight they can produce is still well below the accepted threshold for blindness.

Engineers at the University of California – San Diego and a La Jolla-based start-up company called Nanovision Biosciences now report that they have developed new technology that directly stimulates retinal cells to potentially restore high resolution sight that has been lost owing to neurodegenerative diseases, such as macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa and loss of sight owing to diabetes: all major causes of blindness in humans, affecting millions of people around the world and currently with no effective treatment. Although the technology is some years away from human trials, animal models have given encouraging results, the team states.

"We want to create a new class of devices with drastically improved capabilities to help people with impaired vision," said Gabriel Silva, professor in bioengineering and ophthalmology at UC San Diego.