HYVIS PROJECT

Degenerative diseases of the retina hit light-sensitive photoreceptors and leave inner retinal neurons deprived of light-dependent synaptic input... This project targets to stimulate neurons with a drastically novel method that can go beyond single cell resolution to recreate lost synaptic connections with "hybrid nanosynapses": surviving retinal neurons will be interfaced with plasmonic nanochannels filled with smart polymers able to release neurotrasmitter in response to optical stimuli... HyVIS proposes a retinal prosthetic strategy with high resolution, a glutamate-based photo-stimulation mechanism and specific targeting of ON-cell retinal pathways