Podcasts about argus ii

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Orientation & Mobility Specialist Mark Rankin shares his experiences working with the Argus II retinal implants.

On our Tech Talk, Michael Babcock features the new app, Menus for All. Börje Salming lost his brief battle with ALS at the age of 71. Brock Richardson reflects on his life and career in his sports update. We get the scoop on AMI's Tripping on Air Contest happening right now, with our Communications Specialist, Greg David. Readers Digest has rated Dawson City, Yukon, in the Top 20 Canadian cities to spend your Christmas holidays. Community Reporter Kim Hovey shares why. Orientation & Mobility Specialist Mark Rankin shares his experiences working with the Argus II retinal implants. Kat Owens is a lawyer and the project director of LEAF's reproductive justice project. Danielle McLaughlin speaks with Kat about the Supreme Court case which focused on sentencing of Indigenous People who have been convicted of certain criminal offences.

This podcast is about big ideas on how technology is making life better for people with vision loss. Innovations in implant technology are advancing at lightning speed, profoundly impacting the lives of people who are blind or visually impaired. In On Tech And Vision, we've profiled some amazing new implant technologies that have the potential to restore people's sight. But in this episode, we pump the breaks — because we need to address a critical part of the innovation process: the ethical frameworks that protect participants in early clinical trials, and the need for an updated framework that ensures patient protections without stifling innovation and development. Discussions between doctors and participants in clinical trials almost always focus on the new technology and very rarely on the manufacturer who sponsors the clinical trial — and almost never on the long-term commitment and financial viability of the company sponsoring the technology. And while clinical trial informed consent includes whose responsibility it is to remove the implants should they fail during the trial, that responsibility usually ends once the trial is over. At that stage, who will maintain or remove the implants that are still housed in patients' bodies? In this episode, we talk about innovative implants such as the Argus II, which we featured in the first season of On Tech And Vision. The Argus II is a microchip implanted under the retina that, in combination with a special headset, provided some vision to people who otherwise had none. And while the technology was exciting, the company discontinued the retinal implant three years ago, and the Argus II was eventually sold to another pharmaceutical company. Dr. Joseph Fins, Professor of Medical Ethics and Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York, joins us to share his thoughts on today's big idea: How do we balance the life-changing potential of electroceutical implant technology with the ethics of caring for early participants — particularly after clinical trials are over?   The Big Takeaways: Examples of electroceutical implants. Cochlear implants, retinal implants, and deep brain stimulators are examples of scientific advances that rely on in-dwelling devices. Regulatory framework today. The relationships between researchers and clinical trial participants are regulated by institutional review boards, which came out of the National Research Act of 1974. However, while this framework works well for drug trials, new issues specific to implants need to be addressed by new regulations. For example, who is responsible for people left with in-dwelling devices once trials are over? If the sponsoring company no longer supports their devices, are they victims of abandonment? Are the timelines for drug trial success too short to be relevant for implant device trials, since it may take the body longer to adopt a new technology than to respond to a new drug? Ancillary care obligations. Henry Richardson, in his book Moral Entanglements: The Ancillary Care Obligations of Medical Researchers writes that historically, researchers — to avoid conflicts of interest — did not assume a clinical care role. However, that is changing, as researchers realize they have an obligation to share actionable results with patients. The result is that there is even less of a “bright line distinction,” as Dr. Fins says, “between research and therapy.” Collective responsibility. Who is responsible for the long-term well-being of participants in electroceutical trials? Dr. Fins suggests that the sponsoring company, the medical school where the research is taking place, and the government should share responsibility. It's a collective problem, he says. Some solutions. Requiring researchers, sponsoring companies, and researching universities to include in the costs of development insurance to cover long-term care for participants is one potential solution that Dr. Fins imagines. He also offers that researchers and sponsoring companies that develop successful and adopted medical products could subsidize the field. Or, he suggests, a tax on gaming devices (adjacent to electroceutical implants) to sustain people who are given indwelling devices in clinical trials. The law. The law needs to evolve to address the specific vulnerabilities of participants in electroceutical implant trials. Dr. Fins suggests that there are provisions within the Americans with Disabilities Act that account for assistive technologies that were relevant when the act was written in the nineties. According to Dr. Fins, these provisions in that could be read with a more contemporary lens, to include the assistive technologies of today (which would encompass electroceutical implants). There is room for lawyers and legal scholars to impact the legal frameworks in place now, to expand coverage from the ADA to protect participants in clinical trials for electroceutical implants. “Victims of Our Own Success.” Electroceutical implants are a miracle, says Dr. Fins. They are human ingenuity at its best. The science is harder to solve than the bureaucracy, but the bureaucracy to sustain medical advancements like these must catch up, or, ultimately, the vulnerability of trial participants threatens to impede scientific progress. Danger to the field. Clinical trials rely on willing participants, and when participants are not supported after trials end, it erodes participants' trust across the field. Without a clear set of protections in place for participants in clinical trials, scientific and medical advancement in the area of electroceutical implants may be impeded.   Tweetables: “I think this is a perfect rationale for insurance.”— Dr. Joseph Fins, Weill Cornell Medical Center “This is a huge problem. … We're victims of our own success.”— Dr. Joseph Fins, Weill Cornell Medical Center “It's human ingenuity at its very best. And the fact that we can't figure out the bureaucracy to sustain this? … The science is harder than the politics and the bureaucracy, but we're being overmatched by the politics and the bureaucracy.” — Dr. Joseph Fins, Weill Cornell Medical Center “When stories like this come out it makes recruitment very hard.” — Dr. Joseph Fins, Weill Cornell Medical Center “These retinal implants, these deep brain stimulators, … they're gonna be looked upon as primitive halfway technologies 50 and 100 years from now. But we're only gonna get there if we're able to do this research.” — Dr. Joseph Fins, Weill Cornell Medical Center “Once you understand these facts, the ethics are pristine. They're clear.” — Dr. Joseph Fins, Weill Cornell Medical Center   Contact Us: Contact us at podcasts@lighthouseguild.org with your innovative new technology ideas for people with vision loss. Pertinent Links: Lighthouse Guild Dr. Joseph Fins

Life and political podcast.  Brought to you from The Divided States of America. Going to Wisconsin Dells for Jill's Birthday. Mail Bag: ( eots@email.com ) Facebook post humor on the oil shortage. Fact or Crap: Two right for Dan, one for John this week. The war in Ukraine. Taunting Putin! Wanna be on the Show? Get a hold of us. Some good news: Restore sight to the blind? The Argus II: Fact or Science Fiction? High blood pressure bi-annual shot? The rest of the news: Critics blast Biden's endorsement of "Gender-Affirming Surgeries" for transgender children. David Blaska: The war on school discipline must end. Madison School District launches student safety and wellness committee. Video of the Week: Liberal Redneck - On Elon, Twitter, and our Billionaire Overlords Liberal Redneck - Singin' Plane Christians and Ilhan Omar

This week we consider the Argus II retinal implant system as an example of orphan medical technology, and contrast its treatment with the responses to two other instances of orphan technology. But first, I recently spoke with Professor Colleen Heflin of Syracuse University about her recent paper titled “Exposure to Food Insecurity during Adolescence and Educational Attainment.” The paper is to be published in Social Problems and is co-authored by Rajeev Darolia and Sharon Kukla-Acevedo. Segment 1 -- Colleen Heflin on “Exposure to Food Insecurity during Adolescence and Educational Attainment.” Segment 2 -- Orphan medical technology: models of support and implications of abandonment

Paul Farmer, Global Health Leader, Dies At 62 Paul Farmer, physician and co-founder of the humanitarian medical organization Partners in Health died unexpectedly this week in Rwanda at the age of 62. Farmer was widely known for his compassion, and his conviction that all people around the world, regardless of their means, deserved access to quality medical treatments and interventions. Sarah Zhang, staff writer at The Atlantic, joins John Dankosky to remember Paul Farmer and his work around the world, from Haiti to Peru to Russia. They also discuss concern over a possible re-emergence of wild polio in Malawi, a new U.N. report linking climate change to a potential increase in wildfires around the world, and the case of Hank the Tank—a burly bear troubling Lake Tahoe. We'll also get an update on the tale of a wayward piece of space junk soon to impact the moon, and dive into the link between Epstein-Barr virus and multiple sclerosis. We recently discussed research establishing the link between the two conditions—and now there is new work looking at the possible mechanism of the connection.   Blind Patients With Eye Implant Left In The Dark As Its Startup Struggles Barbara Campbell was walking through a New York City subway station during rush hour when her world abruptly went dark. For four years, Campbell had been using a high-tech implant in her left eye that gave her a crude kind of bionic vision, partially compensating for the genetic disease that had rendered her completely blind in her 30s. “I remember exactly where I was: I was switching from the 6 train to the F train,” Campbell tells IEEE Spectrum. “I was about to go down the stairs, and all of a sudden I heard a little ‘beep, beep, beep' sound.'” It wasn't her phone battery running out. It was her Argus II retinal implant system powering down. The patches of light and dark that she'd been able to see with the implant's help vanished. Terry Byland is the only person to have received this kind of implant in both eyes. He got the first-generation Argus I implant, made by the company Second Sight Medical Products, in his right eye in 2004, and the subsequent Argus II implant in his left 11 years later. He helped the company test the technology, spoke to the press movingly about his experiences, and even met Stevie Wonder at a conference. “[I] went from being just a person that was doing the testing to being a spokesman,” he remembers. Yet in 2020, Byland had to find out secondhand that the company had abandoned the technology and was on the verge of going bankrupt. While his two-implant system is still working, he doesn't know how long that will be the case. “As long as nothing goes wrong, I'm fine,” he says. “But if something does go wrong with it, well, I'm screwed. Because there's no way of getting it fixed.”   Read the rest at sciencefriday.com.   Climate Change Ruins The World Championship Sled Dog Derby Teams of sled dogs and mushers from across the United States and Canada visited Laconia this weekend for the 93rd annual World Championship Sled Dog Derby. Racers were in good spirits, though they faced slushy conditions on Friday and Saturday—a situation that has become more common, many mushers said, as climate change causes winters to warm. Vince Buoniello was the chief judge for the Laconia race, which has a deep and prestigious history in the sled dog world. He likened it to the Super Bowl. “Laconia was always a magic name. Everybody wanted to race Laconia,” he said. Through his 65 years in the sled dog world, Buoniello has seen big changes—fewer people seem to be involved in the sport, and it's harder to find undeveloped land for sledding trails. And, he said, warming winters have made races difficult to schedule. “We raced every weekend for years and years. It was an exception if a race ever got canceled. Now, forget it. It's changed drastically,” he said. “To see mud, it just blows your mind. It just never used to happen.” Buoniello, who is 90, said judging the race in the warm conditions had tired him out a bit. But, he said, his love for the sport and the animals has made it worthwhile throughout his career. “The dogs kept me going,” he said. “It was just such love. It was just pure love.” Read the rest at sciencefriday.com.   An Elusive Search For Freedom From Human-Made Noise If you stand in the middle of a busy street in New York City and listen to the sounds around you, you're hearing what Bernie Krause calls “the anthropophony.” It's the cacophony of “incoherent and chaotic” noise that's drawing people away from the natural world. “In fact, the further we draw away from the natural world, the more pathological we become as a culture,” he said. Krause has been charting this change for more than 50 years, as one of the world's foremost chroniclers of nature sounds. He's recorded more than 15,000 species and their habitats. In his new book, The Power of Tranquility in a Very Noisy World, he makes the case that human-made noise is causing us stress. Krause offers a simple prescription: “Shut the hell up,” and listen to the soundscapes of nature, what he calls “the biophony.” “If we listen to sounds of the natural world, for example, which are the original soundscapes that we were exposed to, it's very restorative and therapeutic,” he said. Read the rest at sciencefriday.com.    

Google announces plans to bring its Privacy Sandbox to Android. Retinal implant patients are faced with obsolescence. The Department of Justice creates a cryptocurrency enforcement team. Dymo adds DRM to its thermal printers and paper. First, Ryne Hager from Android Police stops by to explain Google's Privacy Sandbox. The company has announced plans to bring the privacy protections to Android, but it's taking time to get feedback from developers and ad tech experts. Then, Mark Harris of IEEE Spectrum shares the tale of folks with retinal implants who have recently received notice that their bionic eyes are either obsolete or nearing obsolescence. Then, Mikah shares news from the Department of Justice. The organization just announced a new National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which aims to "identify and dismantle the misuse of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets." Lastly, Jason shares a story published by the Electronic Frontier Foundation about Dymo label printers. The company has added RFID tech to its thermal paper, thereby making it a requirement to use the company's own paper with Dymo label printers. Hosts: Jason Howell and Mikah Sargent Guests: Ryne Hager and Mark Harris Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: podium.com/twit hackerrank.com/tnw nureva.com

Google announces plans to bring its Privacy Sandbox to Android. Retinal implant patients are faced with obsolescence. The Department of Justice creates a cryptocurrency enforcement team. Dymo adds DRM to its thermal printers and paper. First, Ryne Hager from Android Police stops by to explain Google's Privacy Sandbox. The company has announced plans to bring the privacy protections to Android, but it's taking time to get feedback from developers and ad tech experts. Then, Mark Harris of IEEE Spectrum shares the tale of folks with retinal implants who have recently received notice that their bionic eyes are either obsolete or nearing obsolescence. Then, Mikah shares news from the Department of Justice. The organization just announced a new National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which aims to "identify and dismantle the misuse of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets." Lastly, Jason shares a story published by the Electronic Frontier Foundation about Dymo label printers. The company has added RFID tech to its thermal paper, thereby making it a requirement to use the company's own paper with Dymo label printers. Hosts: Jason Howell and Mikah Sargent Guests: Ryne Hager and Mark Harris Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: podium.com/twit hackerrank.com/tnw nureva.com

Google announces plans to bring its Privacy Sandbox to Android. Retinal implant patients are faced with obsolescence. The Department of Justice creates a cryptocurrency enforcement team. Dymo adds DRM to its thermal printers and paper. First, Ryne Hager from Android Police stops by to explain Google's Privacy Sandbox. The company has announced plans to bring the privacy protections to Android, but it's taking time to get feedback from developers and ad tech experts. Then, Mark Harris of IEEE Spectrum shares the tale of folks with retinal implants who have recently received notice that their bionic eyes are either obsolete or nearing obsolescence. Then, Mikah shares news from the Department of Justice. The organization just announced a new National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which aims to "identify and dismantle the misuse of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets." Lastly, Jason shares a story published by the Electronic Frontier Foundation about Dymo label printers. The company has added RFID tech to its thermal paper, thereby making it a requirement to use the company's own paper with Dymo label printers. Hosts: Jason Howell and Mikah Sargent Guests: Ryne Hager and Mark Harris Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: podium.com/twit hackerrank.com/tnw nureva.com

Google announces plans to bring its Privacy Sandbox to Android. Retinal implant patients are faced with obsolescence. The Department of Justice creates a cryptocurrency enforcement team. Dymo adds DRM to its thermal printers and paper. First, Ryne Hager from Android Police stops by to explain Google's Privacy Sandbox. The company has announced plans to bring the privacy protections to Android, but it's taking time to get feedback from developers and ad tech experts. Then, Mark Harris of IEEE Spectrum shares the tale of folks with retinal implants who have recently received notice that their bionic eyes are either obsolete or nearing obsolescence. Then, Mikah shares news from the Department of Justice. The organization just announced a new National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which aims to "identify and dismantle the misuse of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets." Lastly, Jason shares a story published by the Electronic Frontier Foundation about Dymo label printers. The company has added RFID tech to its thermal paper, thereby making it a requirement to use the company's own paper with Dymo label printers. Hosts: Jason Howell and Mikah Sargent Guests: Ryne Hager and Mark Harris Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: podium.com/twit hackerrank.com/tnw nureva.com

Google announces plans to bring its Privacy Sandbox to Android. Retinal implant patients are faced with obsolescence. The Department of Justice creates a cryptocurrency enforcement team. Dymo adds DRM to its thermal printers and paper. First, Ryne Hager from Android Police stops by to explain Google's Privacy Sandbox. The company has announced plans to bring the privacy protections to Android, but it's taking time to get feedback from developers and ad tech experts. Then, Mark Harris of IEEE Spectrum shares the tale of folks with retinal implants who have recently received notice that their bionic eyes are either obsolete or nearing obsolescence. Then, Mikah shares news from the Department of Justice. The organization just announced a new National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which aims to "identify and dismantle the misuse of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets." Lastly, Jason shares a story published by the Electronic Frontier Foundation about Dymo label printers. The company has added RFID tech to its thermal paper, thereby making it a requirement to use the company's own paper with Dymo label printers. Hosts: Jason Howell and Mikah Sargent Guests: Ryne Hager and Mark Harris Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: podium.com/twit hackerrank.com/tnw nureva.com

Google announces plans to bring its Privacy Sandbox to Android. Retinal implant patients are faced with obsolescence. The Department of Justice creates a cryptocurrency enforcement team. Dymo adds DRM to its thermal printers and paper. First, Ryne Hager from Android Police stops by to explain Google's Privacy Sandbox. The company has announced plans to bring the privacy protections to Android, but it's taking time to get feedback from developers and ad tech experts. Then, Mark Harris of IEEE Spectrum shares the tale of folks with retinal implants who have recently received notice that their bionic eyes are either obsolete or nearing obsolescence. Then, Mikah shares news from the Department of Justice. The organization just announced a new National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, which aims to "identify and dismantle the misuse of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets." Lastly, Jason shares a story published by the Electronic Frontier Foundation about Dymo label printers. The company has added RFID tech to its thermal paper, thereby making it a requirement to use the company's own paper with Dymo label printers. Hosts: Jason Howell and Mikah Sargent Guests: Ryne Hager and Mark Harris Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: podium.com/twit hackerrank.com/tnw nureva.com

This podcast is about big ideas on how technology is making life better for people with vision loss. Today's big idea highlights how innovations don't happen in a vacuum, but rather a long chain of science and research and developments that build on each other. Dr. Shelley Fried's work exemplifies this process. It took him a career's worth of experiments and adjustments to enable his cortical brain implants to bypass the eye and restore the patient's ability to perceive light. He had a lot of obstacles to overcome, everything from circumventing the brain's natural inflammatory response to getting the research published. One thing is clear, breakthroughs take time and you cannot give up in the process. Your work often becomes an iteration of an iteration. Dr. Fried took inspiration from the artificial retina, which was prototyped from a cochlear implant. Dr. Fried's revolutionary technology is another step towards a world in which no person is limited by their visual capacity.   The Big Takeaways: A cochlear implant is a neuroprosthetic device surgically implanted in the cochlea, the inner part of the ear that is responsible for the transmission of nerve impulses in to the auditory cortex of the brain. Originally developed in 1950, the modern form was honed in the 1970s with help from NASA engineer. Dr. Mark Humanyan took design cues from the cochlear when he was developing the Argus II retinal implant.  What is a retinal prosthesis and how does it work? The simplest way to explain it is that it's an array of electrodes that stimulates the retina and it helps restore vision loss. They work for some blindness cases but not all. For example, this treatment is not recommended for people with advanced glaucoma. Dr. Fried took inspiration from retinal prostheses to build upon the cortical brain implant. The implants are revolutionary because it means they go directly to the source (the brain). The cortical brain implant works by gathering information externally and it converts that data to stimulate the brain so the patient can perceive it. However, vision science doesn't end there! Vision science keeps building on itself. In this case, the cortical implant technology was inspired by artificial retinas, which took their inspiration from the cochlear implant. How do you target a single neuron? Dr. Fried's innovative solution was the use of coils, which are smaller than a human hair, to help specify which neurons need activation. When you go directly to the brain, there are some complications that occur. The brain sees the implant as a threat and creates an inflammatory response, which blocks the electrodes from communicating with one another. By using these coils, it bypasses the body's natural inflammatory response and keeps the lines of communication open. This innovation in technology did not happen overnight. It took over a year and a half to get the coil experiments to work alone, and that doesn't include all the other methods Dr. Fried experimented with that didn't succeed. Science is about building upon prior research, and it takes time and a lot of experimentation before a solution will work.   Tweetables: “Cochlear implants had taught us that if you even put some of a rudimentary signal in the ear, that the brain can start to use it….. So we want of reconfigured a cochlear implant and used it to stimulate the retina”.  — Dr. Mark Humayun “In its simplest form, a retina prosthesis is an array of electrodes. The common one is 6x10 electrodes and each electrode is designed to stimulate a small portion of the retina.” — Dr. Shelley Fried “We run into additional problems when we go into the brain that don't exist in the retina. One of them is the brain has a huge inflammatory response to the implant.” — Dr. Shelley Fried   “Coils are not only more stable over time, but they're more selective.  They're able to create a smaller region of activation. And so we think we can get much higher acuity with coils than we can with conventional electrodes.” – Dr. Shelley Fried “Our advance was that we showed that we could really shrink down coils to the sub millimeter size and that they would still be effective, that they can still induce neural activation. – Dr. Shelley Fried “I was fortunate that I certainly was not one of the pioneers in terms of being one of the first people to be implanted. [B]eing able to rely on other people's experiences and being able to trust the process was really helpful.” – Rebecca Alexander, cochlear implant recipient   Contact Us: Contact us at podcasts@lighthouseguild.org with your innovative new technology ideas for people with vision loss.   Pertinent Links: Lighthouse Guild Rebalexander.com Dr. Shelley Fried   Guest Bios: Dr. Shelley Fried Shelley I. Fried, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Harvard Medical School and an Associate Professor for Massachusetts General Hospital, Department of Neurosurgery. He is the developer of cortical brain implants. Dr. Fried was inspired to do this work after reading a New York Times article on the in-depth work that went behind trying to restore vision to returning blind Vietnam vets.   Dr. Mark Humayun Mark S. Humayun, MD, PhD, is Director, USC Ginsburg Institute for Biomedical Therapeutics and Co-Director, USC Roski Eye Institute. Dr. Humayun has devoted much of his career to clinical and scientific research in ophthalmology and bioengineering, becoming both a biomedical engineer and professor of ophthalmology. You can hear more about him and his work in Episode 4 — The Development of Artificial Vision.   Rebecca Alexander Rebecca Alexander is an author, psychotherapist, group fitness instructor, advocate, and extreme athlete who is almost completely blind and deaf. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she currently lives in New York City.   Host Bio: Dr. Calvin W. Roberts Calvin W. Roberts, MD, is President and Chief Executive Officer of Lighthouse Guild, the leading organization dedicated to providing exceptional services that inspire people who are visually impaired to attain their goals. Dr. Roberts has a unique blend of academic, clinical, business, and hands-on product development experience. Dr. Roberts is a Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at Weill Cornell Medical College. He was formerly Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Eye Care, at Bausch Health Companies where he coordinated global development and research efforts across their vision care, pharmaceutical, and surgical business units. As a practicing ophthalmologist from 1982 to 2008, he performed more than 10,000 cataract surgeries as well as 5,000 refractive and other corneal surgeries. He is credited with developing surgical therapies, over-the-counter products for vision care, prescription ocular therapeutics, and innovative treatment regimens. He also holds patents on the wide-field specular microscope and has done extensive research on ophthalmic non-steroidals and postoperative cystoid macular edema. Dr. Roberts has co-founded a specialty pharmaceutical company and is a frequent industry lecturer and author. He currently serves as an Independent Director on multiple corporate boards and has served as a consultant to Allergan, Johnson & Johnson, and Novartis. A graduate of Princeton University and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, Dr. Roberts completed his internship and ophthalmology residency at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center in New York. He also completed cornea fellowships at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and the Schepens Eye Research Institute in Boston.

This podcast is about big ideas on how technology is making life better for people with vision loss. Today's big idea is all about the cutting edge advancements in ocular bionic prosthetics. The Argus II is a device that uses a camera and a chip to stimulate the retina and send signals to the brain. Our guest, Dr. Mark Humayun, developer of the Argus II, speaks with Dr. Roberts about the development of this device, and the importance of the collaboration between developers and early adopters. He talks about the engineering, neurophysiology, and surgical challenges they've overcome to get to where they are, as well as what kind of advancements might be possible in the future.   The Big Takeaways: The Argus II is a device with two components: a wearable component that consists of glasses with a camera and video processing unit and an implanted device that includes an antenna and an electronic chip that sends electrodes to stimulate the remaining cells of the retina. The visual system is similar to a computer in that it requires hardware (our eyes, retina, optic nerve, visual cortex) and software (converts signals to what we describe as sight). When developing artificial vision, Dr. Humayun had to pinpoint how much of the retina needed to be replaced, as well as how much of the retina needed to still exist for the device to work. The electronic system stimulates groups of neurons into visual perceptions. Users of the Argus II can currently perceive up to 10 shades of gray. Dr. Humayun and his team are working on getting the device to generate color vision by stimulating the retina at different frequencies, which the wearer learns to associate with a named color. The cochlear implant was a big influence on the initial development of Argus II — they reconfigured a cochlear implant and used it to stimulate the retina rather than the cochlea. As they reconfigure and continue to develop the device, the collaboration between actual users and developers is crucial. Now that they have the hardware and technology, they can focus on future developments like an implant that bypasses the optic nerve and sends electrodes directly to the visual cortex.   Tweetables: “I've been so lucky my whole adult life to have that collaborative experience with everyone who's ever built legs for me.” — Aimee Mullins, actor, athlete, public speaker, and double amputee “The most emotional thing for me was being able to see letters again. That was such an emotional experience, I don't know how to put it into words.” — Barbara Campbell, Argus II implant recipient “You can think of it like this, that it wirelessly connects the blind person to a camera, and jumpstarts the otherwise blind eye and sends the information to the brain.” — Dr. Mark Humayun “There are some features that are different than our human eye, there are some advantages, but clearly our human eye is incredibly, exquisitely engineered to give you a very pristine, refined, and high-resolution image.” — Dr. Mark Humayun   Contact Us: Contact us at podcasts@lighthouseguild.org with your innovative new technology ideas for people with vision loss.   Pertinent Links: Lighthouse Guild Argus II   Guest Bio: Dr. Mark Humayun Mark S. Humayun, MD, PhD, is Director, USC Ginsburg Institute for Biomedical Therapeutics and Co-Director, USC Roski Eye Institute. Dr. Humayan received his Bachelor of Science degree from Georgetown University in 1984, his Master's Doctorate from Duke University in 1989, and his PhD from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1994. He completed his ophthalmology residency at Duke Eye Center and fellowships in both vitreoretinal and retinovascular surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He stayed on as faculty at Johns Hopkins where he rose to the rank of associate professor before moving to USC in 2001. Dr. Humayun has devoted much of his career to clinical and scientific research in ophthalmology and bioengineering, becoming both a biomedical engineer and professor of ophthalmology. Dr. Humayun led a talented and diverse team of interdisciplinary researchers with the ultimate goal of creating the world's first artificial retina. He assembled a team of world experts with a wide range of proficiency, including biomedical engineering, computer science, medicine, chemistry, biology, and business. In clinical trials since 2007 and approved by the FDA in 2013, the Argus II retinal implant, represents the culmination of a visual restoration strategy that offers an unprecedented degree of sight to those with complete retinal blindness. He was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and National Academy of Engineering (NAE) for his pioneering work to restore sight. With over 200 publications and more than 100 patents and patent applications, Dr. Humayun has received several research awards, which include the 2005 Innovator of the Year award. He was also featured as one of the top 10 inventors in Time Magazine in 2013, voted as one of the Best Doctors in America for three years, and one of the top 1% of Doctors by U.S. News & World Report. In 2016, Dr. Humayun received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Barack Obama for his innovative work and development of the Argus II. Host Bio: Dr. Calvin W. Roberts Calvin W. Roberts, MD, is President and Chief Executive Officer of Lighthouse Guild, the leading organization dedicated to providing exceptional services that inspire people who are visually impaired to attain their goals. Dr. Roberts has a unique blend of academic, clinical, business, and hands-on product development experience. Dr. Roberts is a Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology at Weill Cornell Medical College. He was formerly Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Eye Care, at Bausch Health Companies where he coordinated global development and research efforts across their vision care, pharmaceutical, and surgical business units. As a practicing ophthalmologist from 1982 to 2008, he performed more than 10,000 cataract surgeries as well as 5,000 refractive and other corneal surgeries. He is credited with developing surgical therapies, over-the-counter products for vision care, prescription ocular therapeutics, and innovative treatment regimens. He also holds patents on the wide-field specular microscope and has done extensive research on ophthalmic non-steroidals and postoperative cystoid macular edema. Dr. Roberts has co-founded a specialty pharmaceutical company and is a frequent industry lecturer and author. He currently serves as an Independent Director on multiple corporate boards and has served as a consultant to Allergan, Johnson & Johnson, and Novartis. A graduate of Princeton University and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, Dr. Roberts completed his internship and ophthalmology residency at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center in New York. He also completed cornea fellowships at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and the Schepens Eye Research Institute in Boston.

Dr. Rachitskaya highlights the upcoming Vit-Buckle Society webinar on reproductive planning for ophthalmologists on February 17th. To register, visit https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_IVviENn2QoqwOJMWBKT7MQ.

VQ 2014 Toronto - Restoring Sight The Bionic Eye (Argus II) by Fighting Blindness Canada

Dr. Robert Devenyi discusses the 5-year safety and performance results of the Argus II retinal prosthesis implant. He also share his own experience with the device including surgical steps and patient outcomes. The episode logo reflects the retinal images of the 11 devices that he has implanted so far. The full reference of the article is: da Cruz, L., et al. (2016). "Five-Year Safety and Performance Results from the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System Clinical Trial." Ophthalmology 123(10): 2248-2254. Please send your comments to: theretinachannel@gmail.com.

En éste episodio, Manolo entrevista a Carmen Torres, quien relata su testimonio y experiencias como paciente del Argus II. El Argus II es un dispositivo de tres partes que provee visión artificial a personas ciegas, permitiendo algo de percepción de luz y movimiento en pacientes que han perdido la visión debido a la retinitis pigmentosa. … Seguir leyendo Tiflo Audio 77 – Argus II, un innovador sistema tecnológico de prótesis para la retina →

Doctor Lisa C. Imos de Koo from the USC Eye Institute offers an overview of the Argus II implant

Doctor Lisa C. Imos de Koo from the USC Eye Institute offers an overview of the Argus II implant

Second Sight President & CEO Robert Greenberg, MD, PhD looks back on Sec-ond Sight’s long road to getting FDA approval for Argus II and considers the path not taken.

One day, Second Sight Medical CEO Robert Greenberg, may be considered one of the most important figures in the fight against blindness. On this episode of DeviceTalks, he discusses the journey to bring sight to the blind with the Argus II "Bionic Eye. "