Eye Only Have Chips for You From: TechWow! - September 2003 - page 10 Researchers at Wayne State University and the Kresge Eye Institute are working on tiny computer chips that can be implanted in the eye and brain to produce eyesight. There are two versions of the chips: retinal and cortical. Retinal implants are more viable and the technology is closer to completion. Here, a CMOS array mounted on eyeglasses captures images and translates them into signals, which are sent wirelessly to the implanted chip. The implant stimulates the retina's neural tissue, which passes chemical messages to the optic nerve in the visual part of the brain, Cortical implants are more complicated because they bypass the functions of the eye. The eyeglass-mounted camera will record an image and send it to the chip, which will decode it to the brain. Contact: Gregory W. Auner, PhD Wayne State University Detroit, MI 313/577-3904 gauner@ece.eng.wayne.edu http://ece.eng.wayne.edu/ssid