THIS WEEK:                                                           08 Jul
00
  #5  A chip for an eye.

A tiny silicon chip that mimics the way the human retina works was implanted
into three blind patients in Illinois last week. If successful, the
technology could partially restore vision in a simple one-off operation.
Requiring no batteries or even wiring, the chip differs from other recent
efforts to produce eye implants, because it doesn't need an external camera
to do the 'seeing'. Instead, the artificial silicon retina (ASR), developed
by brothers Alan and Vincent Chow of Optobionics near Chicago, is completely
self-contained.
Delicately placed just beneath the surface of the retina, the 2-millimetre
square ASR is powered entirely by light hitting the back of the eye. This
light is converted into tiny electrical signals by 3500 microscopic solar
cells that stimulate nerve cells within the retina in much the same way as
the retinal photoreceptors did before eye disease struck.
The ASR is designed to treat people suffering from eye-wasting diseases, but
it cannot help people who were born blind. It will be some weeks before it
is known how successful the operations were, but the early signs are said to
be hopeful.
New Scientist
Copyright (C) Reed Business Information Limited


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