Bionic eye here at UC Davis holds great promise for restoring vision

Bionic EyeI love stem cells, but I have to admit bionics is totally amazing as well. Both hold great promise for fixing up human beings as we injured or age.

Today a major advance in vision correction via bionics was announced here at UC Davis that has really caught my attention. I was not involved in any way with the work, but I find it fascinating and exciting.

In the work, a bionic telescope is implanted into the eyes of patients suffering from macular degeneration (see photo above from here at UC Davis).

This bionic scope works!

This FDA-approved work is just getting rolling, but first patient Virginia Bane reports improved vision:

“After surgery, you begin to see wonderful things happen because of the scope,” Bane said. “You can see the faces of your friends. And it’s wonderful to be able to read again.”

I commend Bane for her bravery and also the docs here pioneering this work, which I see as complimentary to the work being done for macular degeneration by Advanced Cell Technology (ACT).