Medical device development

Deep-tech medical-device company that restores vision with a retinal prosthesis

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Develop an implantable chip that stimulates the retina of patients who have gone blind because of loss of their rods and cones. The patient wears glasses containing a camera and an infrared laser projector; the implant's solar-cell grid converts projected light into electrical fields that stimulate the retina while bypassing the dead rods and cones.

Problem: Restores a visual signal for people whose retinal rods and cones are no longer functioning.

For: Patients who have gone blind because of loss of the rods and cones in the eye.

Examples

• Science's retinal prosthesis: one patient finished a 300-page novel using the device; the device had completed major clinical trials, had been used in three clinical trials, and was an approved medical device in Europe while clinical trials were running in six countries.