22-08-2016, 04:33 PM
Scientists say they've cracked the neural "code" in a mouse's retina to create a device that restores near-normal sight in blind mice. They've also claimed to decipher the same code in a monkey's retina, boosting hopes for a major bionic breakthrough — an artificial human eye that can see.
"We can make blind mouse retinas see, and we’re moving as fast as we can to do the same in humans," lead researcher Sheila Nirenberg, a professor at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, said in a statement.
Current prosthetic eyes for humans have electrodes that stimulate the retina’s output cells, called ganglion cells, which are often left intact even when the rest of eye's hardware is destroyed by diseases that cause blindness. But these stimulators only allow the blind to see rough visual fields. To restore normal sight, the researchers say artificial eyes must incorporate the code that allows the retina to translate signals from photoreceptors into meaningful images.
"We can make blind mouse retinas see, and we’re moving as fast as we can to do the same in humans," lead researcher Sheila Nirenberg, a professor at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, said in a statement.
Current prosthetic eyes for humans have electrodes that stimulate the retina’s output cells, called ganglion cells, which are often left intact even when the rest of eye's hardware is destroyed by diseases that cause blindness. But these stimulators only allow the blind to see rough visual fields. To restore normal sight, the researchers say artificial eyes must incorporate the code that allows the retina to translate signals from photoreceptors into meaningful images.