Light Delivery System for Retinal Implant

Retinal degenerative diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD), cause vision to become blurry and distorted, ultimately leading to total blindness in afflicted individuals. According to the World Health Organization, about 200 million people suffer from blindness or low vision, and as the aging population grows, many more will be affected by debilitating vision diseases. To address this global health challenge, significant hurdles must be overcome, including addressing the disease specificity to many types of retinal degeneration and the delivery of personalized solutions.

Our client, Nano Retina, has developed a revolutionary product: an artificial retina that mimics the functionality of photoreceptor cells and translates electric impulses through the functional retinal layer to the optic nerve. Nano Retina’s sophisticated device, the NR 600, is a miniature chip implanted into the eye, along with a digital imager and an array of penetrating electrodes that translates the image to an electrical stimulation on targeted healthy retinal layers. The chip is coupled with an intelligent infrared laser system to provide power and precise control tailored individually to the patient. Nano Retina’s comprehensive cutting edge technology package restores visual perception to people who have lost their sight due to a retinal degenerative disease.

In partnership with Nano Retina, we have developed a custom infrared light delivery system that can supply power and optical communication to the eye implant with both certainty and adjustability over a very large range of anthropometric variations while accommodating large relative eye motions in the patient. Intelligent optical design of this light delivery system allows optimal and robust clinical assessment and system optimization post implantation.

This light delivery solution combines the best of smart design and interfacing of optics and opto-mechanics with ergonomics that provide not only maximum flexibility for the physician (optimized to custom stimulation parameters) but also maximum patient comfort during clinical procedures.

Restoring vision, restoring independence – INO’s ophthalmic contribution is enabling Nano Retina’s mission.