AI SCIENCE
Your eyeballs may be due an upgrade
Science Corporation, founded by former Neuralink co-founder Max Hodak, has implanted its vision-restoring chip, PRIMA, into its first patient with Stargardt disease, an inherited condition that gradually causes central vision loss.
The patient received the implant in May during a trial in Australia.
During his first rehabilitation session, he could see a letter, and by his second, he could read a word.
The technology uses a tiny chip implanted at the back of the eye and camera-equipped glasses to send visual information to the brain.
In brief:
The chip replaces damaged light-sensing cells, helping patients see sharp, black-and-white images in a small part of their vision.
Science Corporation is developing a larger implant to improve the field of vision, with Hodak hoping to achieve near-natural sharpness within five years.
The company is also developing brain implants that could help treat neurological conditions, including stroke and degenerative diseases.
A chip off the old retina
PRIMA is already approved in Europe for certain patients with advanced age-related vision loss, while its use for Stargardt disease remains under clinical investigation.
A chip in the eye, a sensor on the brain. The human body is slowly turning into a Currys catalogue. -MG