The Department of Energy's Office of Science is now sponsoring research and development of an artificial retina, which can restore sight in blind patients with macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, and other eye diseases. The research is being conducted at the Doheny Eye Institute, University of Southern California, in collaboration with North Carolina State University, University of California - Santa Cruz, Second Sight LLC, and six DOE national labs - Argonne, Brookhaven, Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, and Sandia.

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 array of electrodes 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 technology that is being developed in the artificial retina project may be applied not only to the treatment of blindness but in the general field of neural prostheses. It may be adapted to help persons with spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's disease, deafness, and almost any other neurological disorders.