The Solar Eye

“Let there be light” would be an excellent tag line for the newly invented solar powered retina implant. People with retinal diseases like age-related macular degeneration, and retinitis pigmentosa eventually become blind because photoreceptors become damaged. The photoreceptors are an important part in detecting light and signaling neurotransmitters to respond to the light. So essentially, photorecepters are the initiators, and without them you cannot see.

A new retinal implant that doesn’t use heat or electric pulses has been developed in the fight against these diseases. An engineer from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Laxman Saggere created an solar powered actuator that flexes in response to low-intensity light that strikes the retina. Neurotransmitters would then be sprayed to stimulate the retinal cells and a specialized chip would be able to pick up the images and pass them onto the brain. The use of solar power is very efficient and plausible since the receptors respond to light.

“Let there be light” would be an excellent tag line for the newly invented solar powered retina implant. People with retinal diseases like age-related macular degeneration, and retinitis pigmentosa eventually become blind because photoreceptors become damaged. The photoreceptors are an important part in detecting light and signaling neurotransmitters to respond to the light. So essentially, photorecepters are the initiators, and without them you cannot see.

A new retinal implant that doesn’t use heat or electric pulses has been developed in the fight against these diseases. An engineer from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Laxman Saggere created an solar powered actuator that flexes in response to low-intensity light that strikes the retina. Neurotransmitters would then be sprayed to stimulate the retinal cells and a specialized chip would be able to pick up the images and pass them onto the brain. The use of solar power is very efficient and plausible since the receptors respond to light.