development "Cyborg eye" This offers promising hope for the treatment of blindness in the near future.

The co-founder of Elon Musk’s brain chip startup Neuralink has unveiled plans for an eye implant that could one day provide a cure for blindness.

The technology, dubbed the Scientific Eye, aims to combat two forms of severe blindness for which there is currently no cure and will eventually act as a brain-computer interface (BCI), relaying information through the wearer’s optic nerve.

we are happy to accept covers off our first product programoptogenetic retinal prosthesis!https://t.co/f2XX1UVBEA

– Max Hodak (@maxhodak_) November 21, 2022

Startup Science Corp, led by former Neuralink chief Max Hudak, has already raised $160 million to advance its technology.

Science Eye can treat various types of blindness, including retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The technology will work by stimulating the optic nerve through an implanted ultra-dense, flexible microLED display panel that is inserted directly over the retina. The company will then use gene therapy to act as an intermediary and connect them.

Hudak says future versions of the Science Eye could replace glasses and even act like virtual reality glasses.

Hodak takes a different route than Neuralink, which drills holes in the patient’s skull to insert electrodes into the brain. Instead, Science Corp. wants to use photoreceptors to send information through the optic nerve to the brain.

And while the company says it will initially work on animals, it hopes to introduce the device to human patients in the not too distant future.

“Our main goal is to demonstrate sufficient animal safety data so that we can start a human clinical trial, which is the first step towards a finished commercial product,” the company said.

“This is something we think will improve as we learn more – a lot of neuroscience is difficult to do in animals – but with that said, we hope to restore significant independence even to our first (future) patients,” the company said.

Source: Metro

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