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Society on Social Implications of Technology [SIT030]
Program: 5:30 PM to 7:15 PM; Dinner: 7:30 PM, Monday, 22 September
FUNCTIONAL VISION FOR THE BLIND: THE BOSTON RETINAL IMPLANT
Shawn K. Kelly, The Boston Retinal Implant Project, MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics and Boston VA Medical Center, 50 Vassar Street, Room 36-576, Cambridge, MA 02139. http://www.bostonretinalimplant.com/
The Boston Retinal Implant Project (BRIP) is developing an electronic prosthesis to restore useful functional vision to patients blind with degenerative retinal diseases. Retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration cause loss of photoreceptors and eventual blindness in millions of patients in the US and worldwide. The Boston group is one of dozens of research groups and companies working to develop devices to restore vision to those patients. The devices typically include an external camera that conveys images wirelessly to implanted electronics, which in turn electrically stimulate the retinal ganglion nerve cells to create pixelated vision. Dr. Kelly will discuss his hands-on role in the project, its recent successes, and the prospects for prosthetic sight.
BRIP began in 1989 as collaboration between Dr. Joseph Rizzo of Harvard’s Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and Professor John Wyatt of MIT. It has expanded to include the Boston VA hospital, Cornell University, University of Louisville, University of Alabama at Huntsville, and Boston University, and 35 researchers. The group performed 6 short-term (one day) human retinal stimulation trials on blind volunteers, and has developed a wireless prosthesis for chronic implantation. A spinoff company will form soon to develop prosthesis for expanded human trials.
Shawn K. Kelly is an electrical engineer working for BRIP as an employee of the Veterans Administration and a Visiting Scientist at MIT. After completing his SB at MIT, he worked with BRIP for his MEng and PhD projects. He designs the integrated circuits for the prosthesis, oversees the MIT lab and the electrical system development of the implant, and leads planning for the spinoff company.
This meeting is free and open to the public. It will be held 5:30 – 7:15 p.m. on Monday, 22 September 2008. Refreshments are at 5:30 p.m. and the presentation will begin at 6:00 p.m., both in the Lincoln Laboratory Cafeteria, 244 Wood Street, Lexington, MA. For more information, please contact Jim Ernstmeyer, j.ernstmeyer@worldnet.att.net, (781) 929-8114, or visit the IEEE website at http://www.ieeeboston.org/.
A no-host dinner and discussion will begin after the talk at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, 22 September, at the Great Wall Restaurant, in the Great Road Shopping Center, Bedford, MA.
DIRECTIONS
To the Meeting:
Please enter MIT Lincoln Laboratory parking lot at 244 Wood Street entrance and park in visitor parking. The entrance to the cafeteria is on the lower level, to the left of the main entrance.
From I-95 (Route 128): Take Exit 30B on to Route 2A - Stay in Right Lane. Turn Right on to Mass. Ave. Follow Mass. Ave for ~ 0.4 miles. Turn Left on to Wood Street and Drive for 1.0 miles. Turn Left at Wood Street Gate. Lincoln Lab is also accessible via public transportation by taking the 62/76 bus from Alewife. More directions are available at http://www.ll.mit.edu/about/directions.html.
To Dinner:
For door-to-door directions please use MapQuest.com with a destination of 309b Great Road, Bedford MA. In the e-Reflector, click on: http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=
address&searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&1ahXX=&address=
309B+Great+Road&city=bedford&state=ma&zipcode=01730From I-95 (Route 128): take exit 31B, and follow Routes 4 and 255 west for 2.4 miles to the Great Road Shopping Center on your left. The Great Wall Restaurant will be towards the far right corner of the mall.
From Lincoln Lab: Take left onto Wood Street, right onto Hartwell Avenue at the end of Wood Street, and left onto Routes 4 and 225 at the end of Hartwell Avenue. Follow Routes 4 and 255 west for 0.9 miles to the Great Road Shopping Center on your left. The Great Wall Restaurant will be towards the far right corner of the mall.
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Updated: August 18, 2008.