The Bionic Eye Project

Wednesday, 12 June 2013 at 15:00 in room INF 328

Kate Fox, University of Melbourne, Australia

Abstract:

The Bionic Eye Project is a A$42 million dollar project from Australia designed to develop implantable devices to treat retinal disease. Since 2010, the project has aimed to produce two multielectrode array devices capable of electrically stimulating damaged cells at the back of the eye. In order to achieve this goal, the engineering requirements have been severe. In order to produce high acuity a electrode array will be fabricated having over 1000 individually addressable electrodes within a 3 mm2 footprint. The material used for such a device is diamond. Diamond has many favourable characteristics for biomedical applications. It is biocompatible, biostable and chemically inert in vivo. The talk will provide an overview of the engineering challenges and how we have used multidisciplinary collaboration to solve obstacles.
 

About the Speaker: Dr. Kate Fox completed her doctorate in biomaterials at the Ian    Wark Research Institute, University of South Australia in 2006 working on surface science analysis of novel drug-delivery mechanisms using co-deposited hydroxyapatite-drug coatings on hip implants. After completing her doctoral degree, she was lured into the world of intellectual property law where she worked as a patent attorney. After a short period, she returned to research to join the University of Melbourne working on biomaterials and surgical integration for the Bionic Eye Project, a team of world-leaders in their respective fields who are developing two bionic eye prototypes, the wide-view and high-acuity devices. Dr Fox brings personal experience to the bionic eye project through her vision impaired child.