IDRE – Optical Stimulation of Neural Tissue

Project description: The neural prosthetic devices of today show many promising features in order to construct a working electronic-tissue interface. The use of such an interface could be in prosthesis for patients suffering from amputees, Parkinson’s disease or blindness. However, one of the main drawbacks for the device being developed and used today is the poor longtime stability inside tissue. The aim of this project is to develop a new interface based on optical stimulation. Stimulation of neural tissue using optical radiation instead of the more traditional electrical stimulation have advantages, like higher specificity of the stimulation, possibility of non contact stimulation and the ability to stimulate inside the tissue without penetration. This interface could be used for the development of a visual prosthesis. In
order to get a deeper understanding of the phenothe light behavior inside tissue will be performed. More information: IDRE_OpticalStimulation.pdf

Project leader: Hans von Holst

Time period: 2007-2012