Millions of people worldwide suffer from ocular diseases that degrade the retina, the light-processing component of the eye, causing blindness. As the population continues to age, the number of Americans blinded by age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP) will increase. A retinal prosthesis can be used to treat AMD as well as inherited retinal disorders such as RP. In collaboration with four other national laboratories, four universities, and one industrial partner, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is leading this 2009 R&D 100 award-winning effort to develop the first long-term retinal prosthesis that can function for years inside the harsh biological environment of the eye.
In this device, application-specific integrated circuits transform digital images from a camera into electrical signals in the eye that the brain uses to create a visual image. As a core member of the team, Los Alamos National Laboratory is developing and applying techniques for the functional imaging of physiological and prosthetic stimulation in neural tissue to characterize information encoding and processing by the retina and to validate the efficacy of electrical stimulation.
Coupled experimental studies and computer simulations are being used to investigate the biophysical and physiological properties of retinal neuronal tissue. In clinical trials, patients with vision loss were able to successfully identify objects, increase mobility, and detect movement using the Artificial Retina.
Further planned developments for the device will enable reading and face recognition. In addition, the technologies used in the Artificial Retina to restore sight to the blind could be expanded to develop devices that increase the functionality of people with spinal cord injuries, deafness, and other neurological disorders. The team also explores advanced concepts for electroneural interface design and fabrication, and novel strategies for high spatial resolution stimulation.
Established through a Department of Energy CRADA in 2004, the mission of the Artificial Retina team is to develop the world's most advanced high-density microelectronic-tissue interface suitable for sensory and motor prosthesis and therapeutic stimulation applications. The R&D of such a long-term interface challenges the limits of engineering, physics, chemistry, and biology. The successful integration of these profoundly different elements (biological tissue versus electronic and mechanical systems) has the potential to usher in a new era of sensors and actuators not only for biomedical applications, but also for a wide range of hybrid surveillance systems, including environmental sensors, and for plant and bacteria studies.
The project team consists of five national laboratories: Argonne, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, and Sandia; four universities: California Institute of Technology, Doheny Eye Institute at the Keck School of Medicine within the University of Southern California, North Carolina State University, and the University of California at Santa Cruz; and industrial partner Second Sight® Medical Products, Inc., the group responsible for commercializing the product.
For additional information related to Los Alamos' role in this project, contact John George, 505-665-2550, jsg@lanl.gov.
