In an attempt by scientists to find a solution, the team of academic engineers turned to science and electronics. They try to help restore vision and hearing, not by creating bionic eyes or digital cochlea. Although the technology is available, the possibility of curing blindness is considered still not potential. Eye transplant surgery cannot be a hundred percent guarantee for patients to see again.
This is considered a temporary constraint for some scientists at Rice University, Texas, United States (US). They are looking for ways to cure blindness by creating special implant chips used in the brain.
Rice University engineers are building a flat microscope, called FlatScope TM, and developing software that can decode and trigger neurons on the surface of the brain. Their goal as part of a new government initiative is to provide an alternate path for sight and sound to be delivered directly to the brain. The project is part of a $65 million effort announced this week by the federal Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a high-resolution neural interface. Among many long-term goals, the Neural Engineering System Design (NESD) program hopes to compensate for a person’s loss of vision or hearing by delivering digital information directly to parts of the brain that can process it. [1]
The team at Rice University in collaboration with John B. Pierce's laboratory affiliated with Yale University has built a flat microscope chip embedded in the brain. The microscope will illuminate the world around the user directly into his mind.
It's basically a nail-sized small object capable of monitoring and triggering neurons that are modified to fluorescent when active. This allows FlatScope to transfer visual information in digital code packages directly to the brain, alias passing the need for the eye completely.
FlatScope, this implanted chip actually resembles a small microscope attached to the patient's brain. Once embedded in the brain, it will monitor and trigger the nerves to be modified into substances that have absorbed light and other electromagnetic radiation
This allows the repair of the senses that may be distorted or damaged, such as sight or sound. The premise of this kind of technology is not really new either. This technology already exists as a treatment for Parkinson's disease and treatment of epilepsy.
This modification will create a fluorescence substance that directly helps the healing of blindness and slowly displays color combinations in vague visuals.
But the ability of implanted chips for the brain is still in the development stage that cannot be sure when it will be completed.At least now we've found what kind of path.
This is done by transforming the images into light and dark pixels that get turned into electrical signals. The electrical signals are then sent to the electrodes, which, in turn, send the signal to the brain's optic nerve. [2]
By increasing the patient's nerve capacity, this chip will create two-way communication between the brain and the eye to help heal blindness faster.
For now, they will test this technology on some volunteer patients. They claim there will be no health risk that affects the patient if the chip fails to function. Restoring blind vision in some cases is not a new breakthrough. Things like this have been found in the past, through practices such as eye transplants.
However, patients must be patient waiting until organ donors are available. As a result, it is not uncommon to encourage the emergence of some cases of illegal human organ trafficking on the black market.
When compared to existing ones, FlatScope aims to capture more details, and dig deeper into the brain and continue the search to discover how the mind processes sensory input.
The microscope chip will be on the surface of the brain beneath the skull. From here it will detect optical signals from neurons in the cortex. "The state-of-the-art system has only 16 electrodes, and it creates real practical limits on how well we can capture and represent information from the brain," explains Rice engineer.
Current technology that is used for monitoring and delivering signals to neurons is very limited, Rice team claims. According to Jacob Robinson, with only 16 electrodes, systems are very limited when it comes to capturing and representing information from the brain. {3}
The inspiration comes from advances in semiconductor manufacturing," says one of the team, Jacob Robinson. "We're able to create extremely dense processors with billions of elements on a chip for the phone in your pocket. So why not apply these advances to neural interfaces? [4]
In this case, the creators of the Flatscope held a very dense processor with billions of elements on a chip. to develop FlatScope in hopes of stimulating millions of neurons in the brain. Something that is currently unheard of in neuroscience.
Built microscopes can capture three-dimensional images that can not only see the surface but also a certain depth. But at this point, the limit is not known yet, but they hope to see hundreds of microns deep inside the network.
The team is also building on work they've done with the FlatCam: a super-thin, low-powered camera sensor that could be used in an implant. Yet another challenge is putting together algorithms that can crunch through the data coming from the brain and make sense of the 3D maps of light and neuron activity being fed back. [5]
FlatScope technology is actually built based on FlatCam Baraniuk and Veeraraghavan technologies before. The technology eliminates the need for large lenses in the camera.
By increasing the capacity of advanced neural interfaces to involve more than a million neurons in parallel, it aims to enable rich two-way communication with the brain on a scale that will help deepen our relationships. An understanding of the biology, complexity, and function of organs.
From the description above, the ability of implanted chips for the brain is still in the development stage that cannot be sure when will be completed.
By increasing the patient's nervous capacity, this chip will create two-way communication between the brain and the eye to help cure blindness faster.
Thus can restore visually impaired. Things like this have been found in the past, through practices such as eye transplants.
1. Rice University engineers are building a flat microscope source
2. This is done by transforming the images into light source
3. Current technology that is used for monitoring source
4. The inspiration comes from advances in semiconductor manufacturing source
5. Flat-microscope source
