(http://www.PreserveMacForte.com) A team of biomedical engineering researchers from Israel have created technology capable of stimulating visual system cells after they have been injected with a type of light-sensitive protein, reported Xinhua.
According to the article, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology researchers are teaming up to work on a device that would look like a pair of eyeglasses. The device, noted the article, would employ holographic images that would provide high quality images by stimulating retinal cells.
The technology, which was described in the Nature Communications journal, could potentially assist a portion of the 25 million persons around the globe who are living with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and the 1.5 million persons diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa.
According to the article, the special glasses only work when used in conjunction with a protein injection that is put directly into the eye.
Professor Shy Shoham, research director at Technion, said in the article that “our work is part of the field of optogenetics.” He said that injections of this type are part of the optogenetics sphere. The researchers, he continued, are working on a solution that “makes those cells responsive to the light” so that images can be protected to enable people with vision impairment “to see again.”
According to the article, the solution employs a digital laser hologram to stimulate the retinal cells that post-injection are rendered photosensitive.
According to the article, the research is at its beginning phases and, at this point, has only been used on rodents. Prof. Shoham indicated that trials on humans won’t take place anytime soon. He said that he does not want to commit to a time frame other than to say that it will take much more time yet.
The article added that Prof. Shoham’s team was given a grant to fund its research courtesy of the European Research Council.
Macular degeneration is an eye ailment that usually affects the elderly population. There are two types of AMD, namely the dry kind and the wet kind. Only one-tenth of those diagnosed with dry AMD end up being diagnosed with wet AMD, which can lead to permanent vision loss. The earlier the diagnosis, the better the odds of recovery, which is why people need to visit their eye doctor regularly.
Reference: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/health/2013-05/21/c_124738770.htm