The Brain Can Combine Natural and Artificial Vision to Help Treat a Common Form of Blindness (IMAGE)
Caption
In a study published today in Current Biology, researchers from Bar-Ilan University and Stanford University report the discovery of evidence indicating that the brain knows how to integrate natural and artificial vision, while maintaining processing information that is important for vision. The results have implications for better restoration of sight in AMD patients implanted with retinal prosthetic devices and support the hypothesis that prosthetic and natural vision can be integrated in the brain. This could also have implications for future brain-machine interface applications where artificial and natural processes co-exist. This photo shows a subretinal photovoltaic device implant in a rodent retina. (Left) Optical coherence tomography showing the location of the implant in the retina. Stimulation of the implant using near-IR invisible light elicits prosthetic activation of the retina whereas stimulation of the retina adjacent to the implant with visible light elicits natural vision. (Implant developed by Prof. Daniel Palanker, Stanford University, experiments conducted in the lab of Prof. Yossi Mandel at Bar-Ilan University.)
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Ophthalmic Science and Engineering Lab, Bar-Ilan University
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