http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23578258-5016737,00.html
No 2020 vision in PM's bionic eye pledge Leigh Dayton, Science writer | April 22, 2008 AT least one of Kevin Rudd's 2020 Summit thought-bubbles may not take 12 years and tens of millions of dollars to achieve. As the weekend's summiteers urged the Government to spend $40million on research to build a bionic eye, a tiny team in Sydney was quietly preparing to implant a prototype "eye" into a volunteer within weeks. And the group - led by ophthalmologist and researcher Minas Coroneo of the Prince of Wales and Sydney Eye Hospitals - predicts a bionic eye capable of allowing users to see large objects and navigate independently could be ready next year. "That would be a huge breakthrough. While the device will not immediately achieve 20-20 vision, as the technology advances the bionic eye will evolve," Professor Coroneo said. Professor Coroneo claimed his team developed its visionary implant for less than $100,000. He cautioned that the well-funded Doheny Eye Institute at the University of Southern California was expected to have a device ready next year. If so, Australia could lose its head start on commercialising the device. "A lack of resources has stopped us from doing this (implant trial) sooner," he said. "We've done this on the smell of an oily rag because we had to." News that work is already under way on a bionic eye came as the Prime Minister yesterdayclaimed it was a new idea formulated by the weekend's 2020 Summit. Asked on the Seven Network's Sunrise program what new ideas had come out of the summit, Mr Rudd named "the development in Australia of a bionic eye". "Our technologists in recent years have come up with the bionic ear that is basically a way of overcoming huge problems of deafness in the community," he said. "What are we doing on the question of sight?" Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Minister Kim Carr said he, too, knew nothing of the Sydney group until contacted by The Australian, but said it held "considerable promise". Professor Coroneo began working on a bionic eye in the late 1990s after watching a US television documentary about the concept. Eventually he was joined by University of Western Sydney specialist John Morley, Jim Patrick, chief scientist of Cochlear, and then doctoral students Gregg Suaning and Vivek Chowdhury. They obtained limited support from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council, which allowed the group to conduct animal trials, proving that the approach worked. Bionic ear pioneer Cochlear, which worked with Professor Coroneo's team, will deliver two trial bionic eyes to the group this week. Professor Coroneo has pulled together a team of specialist eye surgeons, who have volunteered to do the trial implants for free. If the bionic eye performed as he predicted, Professor Coroneo said it would be easier and safer for people to use than other overseas versions. He said the device being built by the Californian group and another in Germany would require more invasive eye surgery and pose a greater risk of a patient losing any residual eyesight. The overseas technology involves the insertion of vision-stimulating electrodes inside the eyeball on the inner surface of the light-sensing retina. The Australian system has 30 electrodes, fitted outside the eyeball. Vision is collected by a tiny camera and processed by an iPod-sized device, which sends signals to a plug-like implant fitted behind the ear. The plug is connected to the eye by wires under the skin. The co-chair of the 2020 Summit's health section, Queensland Institute of Medical Research director Michael Good, said members of his group knew nothing of the Sydney work.
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