Postponed:Toward a High-fidelity Artificial Retina

Photo of E.J. Chichilnisky

Event Date

Thursday, April 11th, 2019 – 12:00pm to 1:00pm

Speaker

E.J. Chichilnisky, Ph.D. John R. Adler Professor of Neurosurgery Departments of Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, and Electrical Engineering (by courtesy) School of Medicine & Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory Stanford University

Host

Christopher Tyler

Abstract

A new canendar date will be posted. 

Abstract:

 

Retinal prostheses represent an exciting development in science, engineering, and medicine – an opportunity to exploit our knowledge of neural circuitry and function to restore or even enhance vision. However, although existing retinal prostheses demonstrate proof of principle in treating incurable blindness, they produce limited visual function. Some of the reasons for this can be understood based on the exquisitely precise and specific neural circuitry that mediates visual signaling in the retina. These considerations suggest that future devices may need to operate at single-cell, single-spike resolution in order to mediate naturalistic visual function. I will show large-scale multi-electrode recording and stimulation data from the primate retina indicating that, in many cases, such resolution is possible. I will also discuss cases in which it fails, and propose that we can improve artificial vision in such conditions by incorporating our knowledge of the visual system in bi-directional devices that adapt to the host neural circuity. Finally, I will briefly discuss the potential implications for other neural interfaces of the future.

https://profiles.stanford.edu/chichilnisky