September 17, 2018
Restore sight to the blind. This may soon be possible, thanks to a team of researchers who have just developed a 3D printed bionic ocular prosthesis. Explanations.
A 3D printed eye in 1 hour
The name of this prosthesis seems straight out of a science fiction film and yet the bionic ocular prosthesis developed by a team of American researchers, led by professor at the University of Minnesota Michael McAlpine, who had developed an artificial ear mixing biological tissue and electronic components in 2013 and capable of picking up sounds, is very promising. If this is not the first time that a 3D printed prosthesis has been used in the medical field, 3D printing on a hemispherical surface is a great first. The idea was toprint light receptors on a glass eye responsible for converting this light into electricity, therefore into information then transmitted to the brain, which will convert it into an image.
The difficulty of this invention was linked to the shape and material of the prosthesis: it is a hemispherical glass dome, on which photodiodes, that is to say the light receptors, have been printed. To connect the photodiodes to each other, the researchers used an ink made up of silver particles, and therefore conductive, which was able to dry without spilling onto the glass dome. The advantage of this new technique is the speed of printing. Indeed, the researchers only needed an hour to print all the light receptors on the surface of the bionic eye.
A prosthesis allowing to perceive the contours of people and objects
This great advance in the field of bionic organs would not restore sight to blind people, but would partially restore it, and would allow visually impaired people or people suffering from age-related macular degeneration (AMD) to perceive the contours of people and objects again.
According to the team of researchers, whose work has been published in the very serious journal Advanced Materials, the prototype they developed only allows a 25% conversion of light into electricity. According to them, it will therefore be necessary to develop a new prototype prosthesis with more light receptors.
Aurelie Giraud
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