Chip-Setup in vitro

01.10.2016 bis 01.10.2018

It is estimated that over 500 million people are suffering from retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration worldwide. Such retinal degenerative diseases lead to blindness by the loss of photoreceptor function. Over the last few decades several types of electronic retinal implants have been developed in order to restore the vision of people who suffer from retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration. Among them, the retina implant developed in Tübingen (Alpha AMS) has shown the best patient performance. Patients have seen significant improvement in ‘activities of daily living’ tasks, recognition tasks, and mobility. Patient performance with this subretinal implant, however, still falls short of the widely accepted threshold for blindness of 20/200. So far, there is little knowledge about how exactly ON and OFF signalling pathways are activated by electrical stimulation from the Alpha AMS implant. It remains unknown whether the ON and OFF response properties which are present in the healthy retina can be imitated in the Alpha AMS chip-activated degenerative retina. Therefore, the main goal of the proposed project will be to study selective electrical activation of ON and OFF RGCs by the Alpha AMS implant chip in degenerative mouse retina (for greatest relevance to blind patients) and in healthy mouse retina (to better connect the results to existing knowledge in visual electrophysiology). In doing so, I hope to advance the performance of next-generation retinal implants.