Artificial Retina: Physicists Develop an Interface to the Optical Nerve
From: Medical Design Technology - 08/07/2014

Because of its unusual properties, graphene holds great potential for
applications, especially in the field of medical technology. A team of
researchers led by Dr. Jose A. Garrido at the Walter Schottky Institut of the
TUM is taking advantage of these properties. In collaboration with partners
from the Institut de la Vision of the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in
Paris and the French company Pixium Vision, the physicists are developing key
components of an artificial retina made of graphene.

Retina implants can serve as optical prostheses for blind people whose
optical nerves are still intact. The implants convert incident light into
electrical impulses that are transmitted to the brain via the optical nerve.
There, the information is transformed into images. Although various
approaches for implants exist today, the devices are often rejected by the
body and the signals transmitted to the brain are generally not optimal.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.mdtmag.com/news/2014/08/artificial-retina-physicists-develop-interface-optical-nerve

Links:
Future and Emerging Technologies
http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/future-and-emerging-technologies

Jose A. Garrido
http://www.wsi.tum.de/People/Profile/tabid/287/Default.aspx?id=64eda115-8a72-4062-9963-5de0e26a37d4

Graphene Biosensors
http://www.wsi.tum.de/Research/GarridogroupE25/Research/GrapheneBiosensors/tabid/362/Default.aspx