Bionic Eye in Australia by 2011

One of the ways that researchers are trying to restore vision in people with retinal diseases is through artificial retinas. This is a very promising technology and possible cure because it will help people dealing with multiple diseases, not just specific diseases that gene therapy or stem cell therapy can target. This technology is especially good for Retinitis Pigmentosa or RP since RP has many variations, and most of the genes that cause it have not been discovered.

In March I told you about the Argus 2, an artificial Gretna being developed here in the U.S. Today, I learned that the Argus 2 will have some competition from Australia. The government of Australia just granted a 15 million dollar grant to help speed up the process of making a bionic eye. According to the researchers, they believe that this funding will allow them to start testing the bionic eye by 2011, and have it be available within the next five years. There goal is to make this device good enough that it allows the blind to see clearly enough to read and do other activities.

This news makes me even more hopeful that we'll see a solution to retinal vision loss within my lifetime, and possibly before I lose all of my sight.

Do you think that artificial retinas is the best direction for research? What do you think it would be like to have your vision restored by a chip implanted on your eye?