EAGER: Bioelectronic Color Vision

视网膜假体对受视网膜退行性疾病影响的完全失明患者的生活产生了巨大的影响。更密集的电极阵列为植入人工视网膜的患者提供更高的视觉分辨率正在进行中，但与正常视觉相比，空间视觉信息有显著的损失。彩色视觉的增加将代表着当前设备可实现的有限视觉敏锐度的巨大改善。最近，主要研究人员之一对人工视网膜进行的测试显示，电刺激可以导致颜色感知。这些发现表明，在视网膜假体设备中编码颜色是可能的。这项观察将探索为受视网膜退行性疾病影响的患者设计更好的治疗方案。多尺度计算方法将用于加深我们对电刺激退行性视网膜中颜色编码敏感性的理解。将进行实验，以表征人工视网膜植入物患者的颜色感知作为关键刺激参数的函数。这项工作可以导致一个通用的建模框架，能够为治疗干预提供前所未有的见解，了解退化的视网膜功能及其与仿生设备的接口。除了给全球受视网膜变性影响的5000万人带来的潜在好处外，这项拟议的工作还将在高度跨学科的研究活动中培训工程学学生。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Retinal prostheses have made a huge difference in the life of totally blind patients affected by retinal degenerative diseases. Denser electrode arrays to provide higher vision resolution to patients implanted with artificial retinas are underway, however there is a significant loss of spatial visual information with respect to normal vision. The addition of color vision would represent an immense improvement in the limited visual acuity achievable with current devices. Recent tests performed by one of the principal investigators with an artificial retina revealed that electrical stimulation can result in color perception. These findings indicate that it may be possible to encode color in a retinal prosthetic device. This observation will be explored to devise improved treatment options for patients affected by retinal degenerating conditions.Multiscale computational method will be used to further our understanding of the color coding sensitivity in the electrically stimulated degenerated retina. Experiments to characterize color perception in patients with an artificial retina implant as a function of key stimulation parameters will be performed. This work can lead to a generalized modeling framework capable of informing therapeutic interventions with unprecedented insights into degenerated retina function and their interface with biomimetic devices. In addition to the potential benefits to the 50 million people worldwide affected by retinal degeneration, the proposed work will train engineering students in a highly interdisciplinary research activity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.