[access-uk] Re: Bionic eye, again.

  • From: "TONY CRETNEY" <rac@xxxxxxxx>
  • To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 22:08:42 +0100


It seems to come up once or twice every year in some form or another. I really tend to doubt that we will see any sort of progress in it in the next thirty years, by which time it will be totally useless to me for one. Sorry to be cynical about it, but we will have to wait to see what happens.


Tony
----- Original Message ----- From: "Catherine Turner" <catherineturner2000@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 12:01 PM
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Bionic eye, again.




I dunno whether I fancy it or not, haven't made my mind up about that one - but is it my imagination, or were there articles being published about this kind of thing about 5 years ago, and they were "5 to ten" years away from using them in humans then too.


Catherine
----- Original Message ----- From: "Barry Hill" <bbinc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 11:02 AM
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Bionic eye, again.



Personally, I don't fancy this. I'm totally blind and the things I miss are things of beauty and driving, neither of which would be enabled by these bionic eyes. After being fully sighted for 28 years then totally blind for 12, I think that some sight would just be frustrating. As it is now, I just forget about sight and get on with life.

I would be more interested in the stem cell technology that is being developed in the Far East. Scientists have successfully repaired damaged retinas and optical nerves in mice using stem cells. The advantage over the bionic eyes are that this has the potential to repair the damage and the body isn't going to try to reject the foreign body.

Now, how do I get this high horse down off this soap box?

Barry


----- Original Message ----- From: "Gordon Keen" <gordon.keen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 10:51 AM
Subject: [access-uk] Bionic eye, again.




Here we go again and it's always about this time of year too.


Bionic eye repairs sight like a camera.

By Shirley English

Scientists are developing a bionic eye that may help to restore sight
to people affected by two of the most common forms of blindness.

The tiny implant employs technology similar to that of a digital
camera. It works by mimicking the action of the retina, the lining at
the back of the eye that converts light into signals to the brain.
The implant translates light into electrical impulses and stimulates
the retina, fooling the brain into thinking the damaged eye works.

Researchers at Glasgow University have tested the implant on animal
retina cells and ultimately hope to use it to help sufferers of
age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa, the most
common forms of blindness. Both conditions, which affect about one
million people in Britain, are caused by the retina failing to work
properly.

Keith Mathieson, one of the researchers, said that the prototype had
100 pixels but that the implant would need at least 500 pixels before
people "could walk down the street and recognise faces". He said: "We
are between five and ten years from the first human implants, so
people should not get too excited too early. It is still essentially
a research theme, but we are making advances."

Dr Mathieson, who is working with James Morrison, of Glasgow
University, and Mark Prydderch, of the Council for the Central
Laboratory of the Research Councils, said that advances in
microelectronics had allowed researchers to develop the "retinal
prosthesis, a small device to be implanted on the retina itself".

The device would contain an imaging detector with hundreds of pixels
coupled to microscopic stimulating electrodes. "If light forms an
image on the detector, then the result will be electrical stimulation
of the retina in the shape of this image," Dr Mathieson said.

"The stimulated cells then send the information via the optic nerve
to the brain.

The imaging part of the system is based upon the technology used in
any digital camera."

The implant was welcomed by the Royal National Institute for the
Blind, Scotland.

The Times
Page 22
Copyright (C) The Times, 2006

Cheers!
Gordon
From glorious Devon, England
email: gordon.keen@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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