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Print Edition StoriesMonday, September 28, 2009
MIT, researchers work to aid blind with eye implant
By Mass High Tech staff
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A team of researchers from MIT and other area schools and facilities have created a prototype of an eye implant to help restore vision to blind people suffering from retinitis pigmentosa or age-related macular degeneration.
MIT professor of electrical engineering John Wyatt is leading researchers from Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, the Boston VA Medical Center and Cornell University. The project, now 20 years in the making, has received financial backing from the VA Center for Innovative Visual Rehabilitation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Catalyst Foundation and the MOSIS microchip fabrication service.
The implant, announced last week, works by pulling in information through camera attached to a pair of glasses. The images are then sent to a microchip attached to the eyeball, MIT officials report. The chip triggers electrodes, which signals the brain.
The prognosis for the work is partially restored vision — enough to see shapes — though not full visual restoration.
Although the implant has yet to be used on humans, they have worked successfully in pigs for up to 10 months.
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