Artificial Retinal Implant Project Grows
This announcement follows the completion of enrollment in the first phase of a U.S. FDA-approved clinical study of the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System created by Mark Humayun, professor of ophthalmology and biomedical engineering at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, the Doheny Eye Institute and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. Studies are continuing in Mexico.
“The pioneering efforts of the individuals who participate in this clinical trial will lead to advances for the many people in the world afflicted with blindness,” said Humayun, the first physician to perform an Argus II implantation procedure in the United States.
Humayun was the vitreo-retinal surgeon for the first generation 16-electrode, which he implanted in six retinitis pigmentosa subjects between 2002 and 2004.
The study demonstrated the ability of participants to detect when lights are on or off, describe an object’s motion, and locate and differentiate basic objects in an environment.
The Argus II is the second generation of an electronic retinal implant designed for the treatment of blindness due to retinitis pigmentosa, a group of inherited eye diseases that affect the retina.
The Argus II implant consists of 60 electrodes attached to the retina. The electrodes conduct information acquired from an external camera to the retina, providing a rudimentary form of sight to implanted subjects.
The development of this technology was largely supported by the National Eye Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy’s Office of Science Artificial Retina Project, which is helping to advance the implant’s design and construction.
The unique resources and expertise at Department of Energy national laboratories – particularly in engineering, microfabrication, material science and microelectronic technologies – are yielding much smaller, higher resolution devices.
“We are pleased that Second Sight, along with our fantastic clinical partners, was able to fully enroll the U.S. trial in a timely manner,” said Robert Greenberg, president and CEO of Second Sight and a leader in the field of retinal prostheses for more than 15 years.
“Although it is too early to comment on the clinical data, each device continues to function as expected, and all participants are using their systems at home daily.”
Ten subjects have been recruited for the Argus II Phase I trial at four leading ophthalmic centers throughout the U.S., including the Doheny Eye Institute at USC, the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore), the University of California at San Francisco and the Retina Foundation of the Southwest (Dallas).
Second Sight will be seeking expansion of the U.S. trial to include other trial sites in New York (Columbia University Medical Center and Lighthouse International), Philadelphia (Scheie Eye Institute and Wills Eye Hospital) and Atlanta (Emory University and Atlanta V.A. Rehab Research and Development Center).
The three-year Investigational Device Exemption trial is the only long-term study of a retinal prosthesis currently being conducted anywhere in the world.
“We are excited about the progress being made in the development of this artificial retina technology,” said Stephen Rose, chief research officer at the Foundation Fighting Blindness.
The foundation supported early preclinical studies of this technology because of its potential for giving vision to people with the most advanced retinal disease, Rose said, and “we are pleased to have helped advance the prosthesis into critical clinical trials.”
The project has received extensive U.S. federal funding ranging from the National Institutes of Health/National Eye Institute to the Office of Science at the Department of Energy.
Other sources of funding for the work at the Doheny Eye Institute include the National Science Foundation, which supported the development of the Argus II integrated circuit, the W.M. Keck Foundation, Research to Prevent Blindness and the Albaugh Family Trust.
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USC in the News
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The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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