Using Holography to Stimulate Eye Cells

"Researchers led by biomedical engineering Professor Shy Shoham of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology are testing the power of holography to artificially stimulate cells in the eye, with hopes of developing a new strategy for bionic vision restoration," notes Science Daily. "Computer-generated holography, they say, could be used in conjunction with a technique called optogenetics, which uses gene therapy to deliver light-sensitive proteins to damaged retinal nerve cells. In conditions such as Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) -- a condition affecting about one in 4000 people in the United States -- these light-sensing cells degenerate and lead to blindness." Read more.