gms | German Medical Science

Objective: To describe the efforts of the Newcastle visual cortical prosthesis – our system design and optogenetic probes.

Materials and methods: The Newcastle visual cortical prosthesis consists of three parts: A headset, a subcutaneous control unit, and a brain implant unit. A headset captures the image through the camera and processes it, then sends data and power through wireless RF. The subcutaneous control unit receives data and power provided by the headset and then drives the optogenetic probe. In addition to hardware, we have been developing a full control protocol – with visual processing on the headset, and local optrode LED addressing on the control unit. The control unit also has on/off power cycling to ensure minimal power consumption and thus tissue heating.

Results: We will present the overall operational functionality, and the response of individual probes in brain tissue. We will also briefly discuss the thermal and mechanical aspects of our device.

Discussion: For visual cortical prothesis, we are still at an early animal testing phase. However, a sister project called CANDO – which uses the same technology is rapidly approaching the pre-clinical stage and will be the first to progress to clinical trials in the early 2020’s. We will present this roadmap and the reasons thereof at the meeting.

Acknowledgment: This work was supported by The Wellcome Trust and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK