FALCONIUM

Cochlear implants, or replacing a non-functioning cochlea with a man-made imitation, experienced a boom of popularity in the early nineties. As more than 30,000 deaf people underwent the invasive surgery with hopes of being able to hear for the first time, many people throughout America were opposed to the implants, calling them “unnatural” and fearing that scientists were creating “bionic” humans.

Now, nearly 20 years later, the public might have yet another reason to voice this concern. Thanks to Yael Hanein of Tel Aviv University, extensive research has unearthed the possibility of using bionics to restore vision in blind eyes.

Hanein has been experimenting with affixing retinal nerve cells, the neurons surrounding the eye, with electrodes to stimulate cell growth. She has been successful so far in her experiments on animals, and hopes to one day see (no pun intended) retinal implants become a reality.

Says Hanein, “Our retinal implant attempts to replace activity in places of the damaged cells, and in the case of retinal diseases, the damaged photoreceptors." For people suffering from retinal degeneration disease, her invention seems very promising. Her team’s biggest accomplishment was being able to create these living gadgets on special nano-materials fit for the human eye.

So while the public may scorn bionics as fit only for sci-fi movies, they may prove to be a very real cure for blindness in the not-so-distant-future. That, in and of itself, is a great step forward for the scientific community.

For more information on this exciting research visit:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100322143221.htm

-Michelle Oberman