The first clinical test of an Australian bionic eye is likely to take place within two years and be commercialised within five according to University of Melbourne researchers, thanks to a $50 million funding boost from the Federal Government.
Director of Bionic Vision Australia and Professor of Engineering at the University of Melbourne Dr Anthony Burkitt, welcomed the announcement and says the funding boost will place Australia at the forefront of development in the bionic eye.
“We have the team of experts to compete with anyone in the world,” he says.
It is almost three decades since a team at the University of Melbourne developed the bionic ear, and Dr Burkitt says a similar multidisciplinary approach – using biomedical engineers, clinical experts and neuroscientists from Vision Australia – will have similar success in the development of a retinal implant.
Head of the Macular Research Unit at the Centre for Eye Research Australia, University, Professor Robyn Guymer says the boost in funding will increase chances of delivering a bionic eye with such high resolution that it does more than simply differentiate between shadows and large objects, as current bionic eyes enable.
“We are hopeful that with this funding we could provide a much higher quality of life to people with severe visual loss,” she says.
The bionic eye is one of nine projects to be developed as part of the Government’s response to the 2020 summit, a list which was released by the Prime Minster.
Dr Burkitt says it is pleasing to see the Federal Government has maintained a long-sighted view in these economically uncertain times, and is investing in future technological development which will place Australia at the forefront of development in the bionic eye.
While details of how the $40 million will be spent were not specified in the Government’s statement, Dr Burkitt predicts the next step in the process will be a peer review of the project.
Source:
Emma O’Neill
University of Melbourne