Volunteers participating in the Science Corporation clinical study had been struggling with progressive loss of central vision for years; That is, the thing that allows us to see faces, letters and details clearly. The photoreceptor cells in the eyes of these people were deteriorating and their vision was getting worse day by day.
But some participants, despite being officially blind, have now improved enough to read books, play cards and even solve crossword puzzles after receiving a trial vision-restoring implant. Science Corporation, which is based in California and works in the field of brain-computer interface, has now shared the initial results of its experiment.
Max Haddockthe current CEO of Science and former CEO of Neuralink, was amazed when he first watched a video of a blind person reading with an implant. He founded Science in 2021 after leaving Neuralink, and bought the new eye implant technology from Pixium Vision earlier this year. “I don’t think anyone has ever seen anything like this in this field,” says Hadek.
Stunning results have been achieved thanks to the “Prima” implant; A two-millimeter square chip that is placed behind the eye and under the retina during an 80-minute surgery. Using special glasses equipped with a camera, this system receives image information and transmits infrared light patterns to the chip. The chip, containing 378 light-sensitive pixels, is used like a small solar panel that converts light into electrical stimulation patterns, then sends those electrical pulses to the brain, and the brain converts these signals into images. In this way, the process of natural vision is imitated.
The 2 mm Prima chip is placed behind the eye and under the retina
Before Prima, other devices had also tried to restore vision and electrical stimulation of the retina, but they had only succeeded in creating luminous points called “phosphene” in the field of vision of people; Like the white dots on the radar or the feeling of seeing light and the appearance of a spot in the field of vision, when the human eyes are closed.
The presence of phosphene dots is useful for general recognition of objects and people in the form of white dots. But in general, it is not very similar to natural vision. One such device, Argos II, which used larger electrodes on the retina, was approved in 2011 in Europe and in 2013 in the US. However, Second Site Company, its manufacturer, stopped the production of the device in 2020 due to financial problems. Meanwhile, Neuralink and other companies are trying to bypass the eye altogether and directly stimulate the visual cortex of the brain.
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The main difference between the Prima and other retinal implants is that the Prima chip has the ability to create “shaped vision,” Hedek explains. That is, it recognizes shapes, patterns and other visual elements of objects. Of course, the vision of Prima users is still not completely normal; For example, they don’t see images in real colors, but they see a processed image with a yellow tint.
