Abraham Tours Doheny Eye Institute at Keck School of Medicine, Lauds
  Scientific & Engineering Breakthroughs for Patients with Retinal Disorders

    LOS ANGELES, Nov. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Secretary of Energy Spencer
Abraham toured the University of Southern California's ophthalmology
laboratories at the Doheny Eye Institute and heard from the national research
team that hopes to restore vision to millions of people with blindness caused
by retinal disorders.  As a result of recent breakthroughs in science and
engineering technology, Abraham announced that DOE will commit $9 million over
three years to augment artificial retina research, including support for a
laboratory within the Doheny Eye Institute on the USC campus.
    The DOE national labs, partnering with the University of Southern
California and North Carolina State University, are designing a micro-
electronic device that would be implanted in the eye on the surface of the
retina.  A microelectrode array would perform the function of normal
photoreceptive cells.
    "Restoring vision to patients with retinal disorders is the truly
marvelous goal of this team of researchers," said Secretary Abraham before an
audience on the campus of USC.  "That the unique resources of government
laboratories are helping to meet this goal is another demonstration of their
benefit to the Nation.  We are always looking for areas in which our
interdisciplinary strengths can be leveraged to revolutionize areas of
science, engineering and technology, and to improve quality of life for
millions of people."
    The artificial retina could help those blinded by age-related macular
degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa where neural wiring from the eye to brain
is intact, but the eyes lack photoreceptor activity.  The artificial retina is
a device that captures visual signals and sends them to the brain in the form
of electrical impulses. The device is a miniature disc that contains an
electrode array that can be implanted in the back of the eye to replace a
damaged retina. Visual signals are captured by a small video camera in the
eyeglasses of the blind person and processed through a microcomputer worn on a
belt. The signals are transmitted to the electrode array in the eye. The array
stimulates optical nerves, which then carry a signal to the brain.
    The prototype implants contain 16 electrodes, allowing patients to detect
the presence or absence of light.  The artificial retina project's "next
generation" device would have 1,000 electrodes and hopes to allow the user to
see images.
    Using the unique resources of the DOE national laboratories in materials
sciences, microfabrication, microelectrode construction, photochemistry and
computer modeling, the project's goal is to construct the device, capable of
restoring vision, with materials that will last for the lifetime of a blind
person.  Although images will initially be captured by a camera housed in an
eyeglass frame, researchers hope eventually to develop a completely implanted
system for this purpose.
    The Department of Energy-supported project is a collaboration of DOE
national laboratories, universities and the private sector.  Oak Ridge
National Laboratory will manage the project and provide unique facilities for
dynamic and static testing of electrode arrays and develop special ocular
sensors.  Lawrence Livermore and Sandia National Laboratories are developing
advanced electrodes.  Los Alamos National Laboratory will provide advanced
optical imaging techniques.  Working in collaboration with Second Sight LLC,
Argonne National Lab is contributing advanced packaging systems and soak
testing. North Carolina State University is leading the work on powering and
communicating with the array.  The USC/Doheny Eye Institute is providing
medical direction of the project and clinical work related to implanting of
the devices and clinical followup.  Second Sight created the prototype device
that is currently in testing.
    Mark Humayun of the Doheny Eye Institute, a retinal surgeon and a
biomedical engineer who has led the project with Oak Ridge National
Laboratory's Eli Greenbaum, noted that each institution will play a vital
role.  "This new project will integrate very well with the support for this
field of research by the National Institute of Health's Eye Institute and
National Science Foundation.  Collectively, the Department of Energy labs have
science and engineering that is unparalleled anywhere in the world and it is
the use of this expertise that will greatly expedite the development of a
retinal implant for the blind," Humayun said.
    DOE's effort is focused on developing high-grade microelectrodes and
testing their long term biological effects, developing electrode and platform
materials that are pliable and will last a lifetime within the eye,
constructing a completely wireless device for clinical use and performing the
computational modeling of long term retinal stimulation.
    The Energy Department's Office of Science is funding the artificial retina
project at $9 million over three years.  The department funds the project as
part of its medical applications technology program.  DOE and its predecessor
agencies have been in the forefront of imaging sciences from clinical imaging
in nuclear medicine to imaging atoms at synchrotron light sources.
    Additional information on the artificial retina project is available from
the participating institutions' press offices:

    Argonne National Lab, Katie Williams, 630/252-7997
    Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Don Johnston, 925/423-4902
    Los Alamos National Lab, Jim Danneskiold, 505/667-1640
    North Carolina State University, Paul K. Mueller, 919/515-3470
    Oak Ridge National Lab, Ron Walli 865/576-0226
    Sandia National Laboratories, Neal Singer, 505/845-7078
    Second Sight, Patti Jones, 661/775-3990
    University of Southern California, Jon Weiner, 323/442-2830

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