BIONIC VISION AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2010 …bionicvision.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/466247/Bionic...Page 2 •• BIONIC VISION AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2010 Our mission is

BIONIC VISION AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2010 •• Page 1

Bionic Vision AustraliaAnnual Report 2010

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Page 2 •• BIONIC VISION AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2010

Our mission is to develop a functional retinal prosthesis, or bionic eye, capable of restoring a sense of vision to people with blindness due to inherited and degenerative retinal conditions.

AimsMission

Our aims are to:

improve the quality of life for • people with degenerative vision conditions by bringing together Australia’s top scientists, engineers and clinicians to develop a bionic eye and carry out the first prototype human implant by 2013,

train the next generation of • medical bionics experts, and

advance and commercialise • bionic vision technology, further enhancing Australia’s position as a leader in the field of medical bionics.

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IMAGE • • ABOVE: . OPPOSITE PAGE:

Bionic Vision Australia is a national consortium of researchers from the Bionic Ear Institute, the Centre for Eye Research Australia, NICTA, the University of Melbourne and the University of New South Wales. The Australian National University and the University of Western Sydney are project partners. The first patient tests are planned to take place at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.


Chairman’s Report 2

Director’s Report 4

Board of Directors 6

Board Committees 8

Research Programs 9

Highlights 2010 10

Education 11

Research Reports 12

Wide-View Device Development 12

High-Acuity Device Development 13

Stimulation Strategy 14

Preclinical 15

Clinical 16

Surgical 17

Visitors, events and communication 18

Commercialisation 20

Financial Report 21

Staff and Students 22

Publications Listing 24

Table of Contents•••


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Chairman’s Report

The challenge articulated at the Australia 2020 Summit in April 2008 was to build an Australian bionic eye. The Commonwealth government announced the allocation of $50m for the project over four years and in 2009 resolved that funding should be on a competitive basis, handled by the Australian Research Council as a Special Research Initiative. We and others competed for funds, with a bold plan to bring together Australia’s skills and innovation in medical bionics to achieve a first human implant within the four years of the research grant, leading then to a process for commercialisation. We received a grant for $42m over four years, effective from 1 January 2010.

Bionic Vision Australia (BVA) has been established as an unincorporated joint venture comprising our major partner organisations, committed to sharing skills and resources in this exciting venture. Our mission is to develop a functional retinal prosthesis, or bionic eye, that aims to restore a sense of vision to people with blindness due to inherited and degenerative retinal conditions.

As Chairman of BVA, I was delighted to welcome the then Prime Minister of Australia, the Honourable Kevin Rudd, to officially launch the consortium on 30 March 2010. As Prime Minister Rudd noted at the time, “the bionic eye project will keep Australia at the forefront of bionic research and commercialisation and has the potential to restore sight to thousands of people in Australia and across the world.”

The assembled team comprises experts in the fields of ophthalmology, biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, materials science, neuroscience, vision science, psychophysics, wireless integrated-circuit design, and surgical, preclinical and clinical practice. In addition to the wealth of expertise provided by this diverse group of people, BVA is significantly enriched by a number of our key staff who were instrumental in the the research and development of the bionic ear. There is significant know-how within the team regarding what is required to take a medical device to market.

Prof Emeritus David Penington AC Chairman, Bionic Vision Australia

Establishing the CollaborationBVA is a national consortium of researchers from the Bionic Ear Institute, Centre for Eye Research Australia, NICTA, the University of Melbourne and the University of New South Wales. Researchers at two supporting participant organisations, the Australian National University and University of Western Sydney, bring additional expertise to the project, as does the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.

I would like to express my appreciation to all members and participants for their efforts in establishing both a significant collaborative project and the joint venture for this ambitious project, and to the University of Melbourne and the Melbourne School of Engineering for hosting the Executive team of BVA. I would also like to acknowledge the outstanding work of Dr Charlie Day of UoM Commercial Ltd, in working with the members and their legal teams to complete the various agreements underpinning the joint venture.

Establishing the BVA Governing BoardAn energetic and committed Governing Board including a nominee from each member has been assembled to attend to governance of BVA, offering an outstanding mix of expertise. I extend my thanks to all for their support during 2010.

To assist the Governing Board we have established a Scientific Advisory Board comprising local and international members, a Research Management Committee and a Risk and Audit Committee.

These boards and committees are supported by BVA General Manager, Ms Julie Anne Quinn, who has made an outstanding contribution since joining us in August. I would also like to convey thanks to Dr Graeme Chandler for his work on governance and management in the early days of the project.


Prior to his appointment to Chairman of Bionic Vision Australia, Prof Penington held the positions of Prof of Medicine, Dean and Vice Chancellor at the University of Melbourne.

Prof Penington chaired Neurosciences Victoria from 2002 to 2005; Cerylid (previously Ex-Genix) Ltd, from 2001 to 2003; and Cochlear Ltd, from 1995 to 2002. He was Chair of the CRC for Cellular Growth Factors from 1996 to 2002, prior to which he was a Director of Pacific Dunlop Ltd from 1991 to 2000.

Prof Penington chaired Bio21 Australia Ltd from 2002 to 2009 and has been a member of Foursight Associates Pty Ltd since 1996.

Our researchersBVA is fortunate to have outstanding research leaders both in developing the project and then in its implementation, including Professor Anthony Burkitt as the Director. Supporting him are leaders of each of the individual research programs through the Research Management Committee: Professors Rob Shepherd, Robyn Guymer, Nigel Lovell, Stan Skafidas and Associate Professor Gregg Suaning, all world-class experts in their fields and in their respective organisations. They, in turn, have assembled teams of postdoctoral fellows, students and other researchers in a wide range of discipline areas. This project has created a substantial number of new positions across areas in which BVA operates, providing valuable opportunities for training an Australian workforce in medical bionics.

Looking aheadWe operate in a highly competitive environment and play our role in sharing ideas in international discussions with others in the field, within the constraints of securing intellectual property for later commercialisation. There will be many challenges, but we proceed with confidence that we will be able to offer improved outcomes for the vision-impaired members of our community.

We are working to secure development of innovative programs, involving all of our members across the project, with a sense of joint ownership and sharing of skills, resources and knowledge. We met our initial milestones for 2010 despite the somewhat late start and are confident we will also do so in 2011.


2010 saw the launch of BVA and the commencement of funding from the Australian Research Council for our research program. It gives me great pleasure to present this report on the activities in the first year and to reflect upon our accomplishments.

The sense of vision is fundamental to a person’s quality of life and ability to live independently. For those who have lost vision through degenerative retinal conditions, such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration, the development of a retinal implant (bionic eye) provides the hope of restoring some of this visual function. BVA’s research program aims to transform this hope into a reality. We have been fortunate that even before the official launch of BVA and the commencement of funding, our multidisciplinary research teams have been closely coordinating and planning activities. Consequently, our researchers have been able to hit-the-ground running and achieve some significant milestones in 2010.

Our research objectivesOur research program aims to achieve the following objectives by the end of the funding period in December 2013:

Undertake proof-of-concept human patient • tests of a retinal implant for wide-view vision to assist with mobility and navigation. This implant contains 98 platinum electrodes.

Undertake preclinical testing for • biocompatibility and efficacy of a second retinal implant for high-acuity vision, to enable face-recognition and increase independence. This implant will contain approximately 1000 doped-diamond electrodes.

Ensure we extract maximum commercial • benefit from the innovative technologies developed, cementing Australia’s competitive position in medical bionics and neural stimulation techniques.

Director’s Report

Professor Anthony N. Burkitt Director, Bionic Vision Australia

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Our technologyOur research team is simultaneously developing two prototypes, which we have called the ‘wide-view’ and the ‘high-acuity’ retinal implants to reflect the level of visual function that they aim to restore.

The wide-view device aims to improve ambulatory vision for patients who experience difficulties with mobility and builds upon technologies that have been successfully employed in cochlear implants. The biocompatibility and biostability of the materials used has been well established and has received regulatory approval for use in other implantable devices. The wide-view implant is broadly comparable with devices being developed by international competitors, however, it offers significant potential safety advantages in terms of longevity, biocompatibility and surgical placement.

Our second prototype, the high-acuity device, is at an earlier research stage than the first prototype. The aim of this implant is to deliver functional central vision, image perception and increased patient independence. This second generation implant will be informed by the experience of testing the first patients with the wide-view implant, which will accelerate the pathway of this second device to clinical tests. This device also provides the possibility of a generational advance over existing competitor technologies.

The development of two generations of device hardware has been adopted as a strategy in order to reduce the inherent risk in the development of any implanted medical device and to increase the potential benefit to patients. Further, this will help us enhance Australia’s competitive position in the field of medical bionics.

Our progressAlthough BVA’s funding only started in 2010, our member organisations have been supporting the research planning of the consortium for a number of years. This enabled us to unveil our wide-view prototype at the BVA launch in March 2010. This first prototype is based on a decade of research by our UNSW team to determine the


characteristics of both the device and a suitable type of electrical stimulation.

Since March, each of the research programs has been working through an intensive schedule of studies and experiments:

The wide-view device has progressed • through preclinical studies and a safe surgical technique has been developed for implantation.

The first generation chip for the high-acuity • device has been fabricated and the doped-diamond material for the electrode array has been developed.

Our clinical team has commenced screening • patients with retinitis pigmentosa.

Our stimulation strategy team has developed • techniques to encode images and present them to patients in a way that will be useful for navigation.

I would like to extend my thanks to our program leaders and the Research Management Committee for their tireless efforts in developing and implementing an integrated research strategy across all of BVA’s member and partner organisations. This has been coordinated by our newly appointed Project Manager, Ms Tamara Brawn, who has done an outstanding job in capturing and integrating all the activities within our research teams.

Our peopleFundamental to the progress that has been achieved over the past year has been the rapid expansion of the research teams in each of our BVA Research Programs: Wide-View Device Development, High-Acuity Device Development, Preclinical, Stimulation Strategy, Clinical and Surgical. We now have a team of just over one hundred people, including 36 doctoral students and 30 early-career post-doctoral researchers. The high calibre of our researchers is not only a key strength of our enterprise, but also fundamental to our goal of training the next generation of Australia’s medical bionics experts.

Our ability to make so much progress in one short year is a tribute to the enormous amount of energy and work done by our research team. One of my greatest delights has been working with this group of people and sharing their excitement in learning more about how to build retinal implants and create functional benefits for patients. The team’s enthusiasm and dedication gives me confidence that we will successfully develop a retinal implant capable of improving the quality of life for people with degenerative retinal conditions.

Prof Anthony Burkitt is the Head of the Neuro-Engineering Group at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Melbourne, where he also holds the Chair in Bio-Signals and Bio-Systems.

For over a decade, Prof Burkitt has worked in cochlear-implant speech processing and computational auditory neuroscience. He is now extending these techniques to the development of retinal implants.

From 2006 to 2008, Prof Burkitt was the Assistant Director of the Bionic Ear Institute.


BVA is governed by a Board of Directors, which is responsible for the high-level management and strategic direction of the consortium. The Board is made up of three independent members and one member representing each of the joint venture partners. The Board is supported by the Scientific Advisory Board, the Risk and Audit Committee and the Research Management Committee.

Board of Directors

Professor Hugh Taylor aC, MD, FRaNZCO——Harold Mitchell Chair of Indigenous Eye Health, Melbourne School of Population Health

Prof Taylor is an ophthalmologist who has been actively involved in research and teaching for over 30 years. He was appointed the inaugural Harold Mitchell Chair of Indigenous Eye Health in the Melbourne School of Population Health at the University of Melbourne in 2008. Prior to this, he was Professor of Ophthalmology and Head of Department at the University of Melbourne from 1990 to 2007; and Managing Director of the Centre for Eye Research Australia, an organisation he founded in 1996.

In 2001, he was made a Companion in the Order of Australia for his contribution to the prevention of river blindness, to academia through eye disease research and education and to eye health in Indigenous communities.

Dr Colin Sutton——Director, New South Innovations Pty Ltd

Dr Sutton is Non-Executive Director of NewSouth Innovations Pty Ltd. He is a former member of the council of the National Health and Medical Council and its audit committee.

He is a member of the Grants Committee of Innovation Australia within the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. Dr Sutton is also a Director of the North Shore Heart Research Foundation, the University of NSW Foundation and a director of the Australian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Dr Sutton has had a long career in the international medical device industry, during which he was CEO of Sirtex Limited and then Managing Director of Ventracor Limited, until he retired in 2006.

Mr Peter Nankivell——Director, Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA)

A Director of the Centre for Eye Research Australia Limited and Chairman of Trustees for each of the Eye Research Australia Foundation and the Ansell Ophthalmology Foundation, Mr Nankivell is also a Partner in the Melbourne office of Herbert Geer Lawyers where he practices finance and commercial law.

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Professor Iven Mareels——Dean, Melbourne School of Engineering, University of Melbourne

In addition to being the Dean of the Melbourne School of Engineering since 2007, Prof Mareels is the Chair of the Technical Board of the International Federation of Automatic Control (and ex-officio Vice-President) for 2008 to 2011.

Prof Mareels was Chair of the National Committee for Automation, Control and Instrumentation from 2005 to 2009. Since 2009, he has been a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre and the Steering Committee for the Centre for Neural Engineering. Prof Mareels has been a Board Member of the CRC SI since 2007 and of SPIRE since 2002. From 2003 to 2005 was a member of the Board of Governors of the Control Systems Society IEEE. Prof Mareels has been a Board Member of the Bionic Ear Institute since 1998. In 2008 he received a Clunies Ross Award, Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, in recognition of his work on smart irrigation systems.

associate Professor Laurent Rivory——Director, Research Strategy Office, University of New South Wales (UNSW)

Before his appointment at UNSW, A/Prof Rivory held the position of Senior Director of Research, Research and Development, at Johnson & Johnson Research where he led a number of drug-development and drug-discovery projects in the fields of virology, cancer, diagnostics, RNA therapeutics and ophthalmology. From 2005 to 2006, A/Prof Rivory was a member of the Johnson & Johnson DC Ophthalmology Task Force. Prior to his involvement in the pharmaceutical industry, A/Prof Rivory was a successful research leader in the field of cancer pharmacology.

A/Prof Rivory has consulted for pharmaceutical companies and government regulatory bodies, including the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), and is a past member of the TGA’s Pharmaceutical Sub-Committee.

Professor Rob J. evans——Director of the Victoria Research Laboratory and Managing Laboratory Director, NICTA

Prof Evans has worked extensively with the industry over the last 40 years, including in the development of star-and-satellite-servo-tracking systems for large antennae and target-tracking systems for defence and civil aviation.

Currently a Director of the HEARing CRC, Prof Evans was a member of the Council of the International Federation for Automatic Control from 2002 to 2008 and Director of the DSTO (Defence Science and Technology Organisation) Centre of Excellence in Networked Decision Systems until 2004. Prof Evans served as Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Melbourne from 1992 until 1996. After his 1983 to 1992 tenure as Director of Technology at TUNRA Industrial Electronics, he also acted as Dean of Engineering at the University of Melbourne for several short periods.

Ms Christina Hardy——Director, Bionic Ear Institute, Director of Business Development and Legal Affairs, Garvan Institute of Medical Research

Ms Hardy is a non-executive Director of the Bionic Ear Institute, concurrent with her executive appointment at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. In addition to working in technology commercialisation in medical research, she has advised senior executives and board members on risk management and strategic issues.

Prior to working in the medical research sector, Ms Hardy has ten years of experience in corporate and commercial law in Australia, the UK and Asia, as well as in the ICT sector, negotiating and managing complex, technology-focused commercial transactions.

Earlier in her career, Ms Hardy spent several years working for a federal senator as well as in public and media relations.


Scientific Advisory BoardThe Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) was established by BVA’s governing board in 2010 to assist in the development of scientific strategy and evaluation of programs, as well as to provide advice on the international standing, research quality and proposed commercialisation pathways. We were pleased to welcome such an eminent group of experts to the first meeting of the SAB held via videoconference in November 2010, and look forward to the international members joining the Australian members in Australia in early 2011 for a series of visits to the BVA organisations.

Professor Nigel Lovell Chair and Convener, SAB

Members of the Scientific Advisory Board:Professor Brian Anderson Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering, The Australian National University

Professor Dominique Durand Department of Biomedical Engineering Neural Engineering Center, Case Western Reserve University Cleveland Ohio, USA

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Board Committees

Dr Liz Jazwinska (Observer) Executive Director, Special Research Initiatives Scheme, Australian Research Council

Professor Nigel Lovell (Chair and Convenor) Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, University of New South Wales

Professor Dr Thomas Stieglitz IMTEK - Institut für Mikrosystemtechnik, University of Freiburg, Germany

Risk and Audit CommitteeThe Risk and Audit Committee is comprised of: Mr Peter Nankivell (Chair), Ms Christina Hardy and Prof Rob Evans.

Research Management Committee (RMC)The RMC is comprised of the BVA research program leaders and is responsible for driving the research strategy and activities for the project. Chaired by the BVA director, Professor Anthony Burkitt, the RMC meets regularly to ensure research milestones and objectives are met.

BVA Governing Board

Director Risk & Audit Committee Scientific Advisory Board

Executive Team Research Management Committee

Wide-View Device Development

High-Activity Device Development

Stimulation Strategy

Preclinical

Clinical

Surgical

BIONIC VISION AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2010 •• Page 9BIONIC VISION AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2010 •• Page 9

Research Programs•••

NICTA VRL

University of Melbourne

SurgicalDevelop safe and reproducible surgical procedures for implantation

Wide-View Device DevelopmentDevelop wide-view retinal prosthesis for mobility and navigation

High-Acuity Device DevelopmentDevelop high-acuity retinal prosthesis for face recognition and independence

ClinicalEstablish clinical tests for patient selection and assessment

Centre for Eye Research Australia

Centre for Eye Research Australia

University of New South Wales

Stimulation StrategyDesign, test and validate patterns of electrical stimulation

PreclinicalDemonstrate safety and efficacy of retinal implants

Australian National University

Bionic Ear Institute

NICTA CRL


University of New South Wales

University of Western Sydney

Australian National University

Bionic Ear Institute


University of Western Sydney


Prof Anthony Burkitt (BVA Director) was named one of Melbourne’s top 100 most influential, inspirational and creative people in health and science, as part of The Age (Melbourne) Magazine’s annual listing.

Dr Charles Day (Melbourne Ventures) received the University of Melbourne Vice-Chancellor’s award for outstanding contribution. Charlie was recognised in the category of exceptional leadership and vision for his efforts in establishing the BVA joint venture agreement.

A/Prof Erica Fletcher (Preclinical Program, University of Melbourne) was promoted to Associate Professor and Reader (effective from January 2011).

A/Prof David Grayden (Stimulation Strategy Program, University of Melbourne) was promoted to Associate Professor and Reader (effective from January 2011).

Dr Rylie Green (Stimulation Strategy Program, UNSW) received the Scholarship for Women in Biomedical Engineering from Engineers Australia, the Australian Fresh Science Award, an International Travel Award from the Australasian Society for Biomaterials and an ASBTE conference travel grant.

Dr Sharon Haymes (Clinical) undertook a two-month Churchill Fellowship, visiting low vision research groups in Europe, Japan and the USA.

Professor Nigel Lovell (Stimulation Strategy Program, UNSW) was awarded the title of UNSW Scientia Professor and awarded an IEEE Fellowship.

Dr Chi Luu (Surgical Program, CERA) received the Best Retinal Research Paper Award from Novartis Pharmaceuticals Australia Pty Ltd at the 41st Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists Congress.

Dr David Nayagam (Preclinical Program, Bionic Ear Institute) was promoted to Level B Research Fellow.

Dr Chunhua Shen (Stimulation Strategy Program, NICTA CRL) was promoted to senior researcher.

Highlights 2010

IMAGE • • MR FU MENG AND MR FARHAD GOODARZy, PHD CANDIDATES WITH THE HIGH-ACUITy DEVICE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM AT THE NICTA VICTORIA RESEARCH LAB.

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Dr Mohit Shivdasani (Preclinical Program, Bionic Ear Institute) was promoted to Level B Research Fellow and received the Harold Mitchell Travel Scholarship.

Ms Rosemary Cicione and Mr Joel Villalobos (both PhD Candidates in the Preclinical Program, Bionic Ear Institute) received the Harold Mitchell Travel Scholarship.

Mr Farhad Goodarzy (PhD Candidate, High-Acuity Device Development Program, NICTA VRL) received the Marconi Medal.


PhD Student ProfileMs Miganoosh Abramian PhD Candidate, 2010 at UNSW

‘Investigation of retinal ganglion cell activation following epiretinal electrical stimulation with hexagonally-arranged bipolar electrodes.’

“A major component of any retinal prosthetic device is the electrode array, which acts as the electrical interface between the implant and the retinal tissue. A novel retinal implant array, which consists of electrodes arranged in a hexagonal pattern, has been proposed as an advantageous alternative for conventional electrode array designs. In this electrode arrangement, the electrode at the centre is the current source and the six surrounding electrodes, or guards, act as current returns.

This design is expected to induce localised retinal activation by constraining the current flow to a small region around the centre electrode. An ongoing research project carried out by our group is aimed at evaluating the feasibility of this hex-electrode configuration for a future retinal implant design.”

Completions in 2010Dr Chris McCarthy (NICTA CRL/ANU) completed his PhD, titled “Visual contact estimation,” in December, supervised by A/Prof Nick Barnes (NICTA/ANU), Prof Mandyam Srinivasan (Queensland) and Prof Giulio Sandini (Genova/Italian Institute of Technology).

Dr Bahman Tahayori (University of Melbourne) completed his PhD, titled “Magnetic resonance imaging and the block equation: A reappraisal” in December, supervised by Prof Iven M.y. Mareels (UoM), Dr Leigh A. Johnston (UoM) and A/Prof Peter M. Farrell (UoM).

Education

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Mr Nicholas Opie (NICTA VRL/University of Melbourne) completed his PhD, titled “Thermal safety of a retinal prosthesis” in December, supervised by Prof Anthony Burkitt (UoM), A/Prof David Grayden (UoM) and Dr Hamish Meffin (NICTA).

Chris, Bahman and Nicholas are all part of the Stimulation Strategy Program.

Mr Alejandro Rivera (GSBmE, UNSW) completed his Masters degree in biomedical engineering, supervised by A/Prof Gregg Suaning (UNSW).

Ms Merna Moushi completed her final year project for the Bachelor of Biomedicine at La Trobe University. Merna worked on a voltage based, charge controlled stimulator, supervised by Prof Peter Seligman (Bionic Ear Institute).

Undergraduate Research Opportunities ProgramThe Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) is a paid employment scheme designed to give undergraduate students an early opportunity to experience real life in a research setting. Mr Francis Heil, a University of Melbourne student completed a UROP internship with NICTA in 2010. Francis worked with Dr Hamish Meffin on a project using 3D computer modeling to create a map of the human retina. This work informs the placement of the implant and the level of contact the implant can have with the retina. A PhD student is now expanding Francis’ work to create a map of the neurons in the eye.

“I had the chance to present my work at an undergraduate conference. The opportunity to meet and work with so many scientists is unparalleled and is a huge benefit to students who want to continue as researchers.”

First Lego LeagueFIRST LEGO League (FLL) is a global program, based on real world scientific programs, designed to get children (aged 9-16) excited about science and technology. In 2010, student teams analysed, researched, and invented solutions to various problems in medical bionics. BVA answered queries from a dozen teams globally, so they could understand the challenges involved in developing a bionic vision system.


The wide-view electrode array underwent a series of rigorous tests on longevity and charge injection in 2010, resulting in increased confidence that sufficient and safe electrical stimulation will

be achieved. In collaboration with the Surgical and Preclinical Programs, the physical strength of electrode array has been enhanced to improve surgical insertion.

Prototypes of the electronic components to be implanted within the eye have been constructed and are in the process of being assessed for implantation suitability by the Surgical Program.

Design of the 98 channel microchip that will form the heart of the wide-view device is complete and manufacture is under way. Methods for hermetic encapsulation (leak-proof seals) have progressed to a mature level of development such that a number of opportunities exist for further miniaturisation and increased complexity. Device longevity testing has shown that the wide-view device is able to pass the same stringent testing applied to Cochlear implants.

The basic framework for the image capture and processing system (camera and computer circuitry) has been completed and will be used to prepare for tests with the first patients.

Building works have commenced in the new implantable bionics laboratories at the University of New South Wales that will include a clean room for implant fabrication, with estimated completion in April 2011.

Wide-View Device Development••• The Wide-View Device Development team is working on designing the first prototype retinal implant for profoundly blind patients with particular forms of retinal disease. This program is led by the University of New South Wales.

A/Prof Gregg Suaning (UNSW) Program Leader, Wide-View Device Development

“We have been working on designing bionic eye prototypes for 14 years. I’m thrilled that we now have such a strong, multidisciplinary team together to help make this idea a reality. The progress to date is remarkable.”

Research staff: Mr Phillip Byrnes-Preston, Mr Chris Dodds, Mr Lars Elmgreen, Mr Louis Jung, Ms Wenqi Huang, Mr Fabian Kohler, Mr Sergej Kolke, Dr Torsten Lehmann, Mr William Lim, Dr Paul Matteucci, Mr Apoorv Mintri, Mr Manohar Nayak, Mr Sunil Patel.

Postgraduate students: Mr Umar Anasari, Ms Melissa Anenden, Mr Thomas Guenther, Mr Saiful Joarder, Mr Alejandro Rivera, Mr Nitzan Shany, Mr Hazma Toor.

IMAGE, LEFT • • THE WIDE-VIEW DEVICE WILL INCLUDE AN IMPLANTABLE ELECTRODE ARRAy (PICTURED LEFT) WITH 98 STIMULATING ELECTRODES.

RESEARCH REPORT


High-Acuity Device Development•••

The first generation chip for the high-acuity device was sent for fabrication in August 2010. This chip contains flexible stimulation circuitry to excite the retinal ganglion cells, a power harvesting system and an integrated wireless transceiver. This transceiver operates in the

Medical Implantable Communications (MICS) band, consuming less than 1mW of power. The team has also successfully demonstrated 50mW of power transfer in the air with a single coil design, which is within regulatory and surgical requirements and is very promising for the planned retinal prosthesis. Engineers have since designed and built a testing circuit board to assess the performance of the chip, in preparation for the first set of preclinical tests.

The team at the Melbourne Materials Institute, led by Professor Steven Prawer, continued to perfect the process for growing nitrogen doped-ultrananocrystalline diamond (N-UNCD) that will constitute the stimulating components of the electrode array. Significant progress has been made towards electrically isolating individual electrodes, which is essential to enhancing the resolution of the images patients may perceive.

A prototype diamond case has been developed that will join with the electrode array along their perimeters, with the implantable electronics inside. The case will be hermetically sealed and biocompatible. This encapsulation approach keeps high temperatures localised and away from the chip to prevent damage.

The High-Acuity Device Development team is developing the second prototype retinal implant for patients with particular forms of retinal disease. Predominantly, this program brings together researchers from NICTA and the University of Melbourne.

Prof Stan Skafidas (NICTA and University of Melbourne) Program Leader, High-Acuity Device Development

“The technology being developed for the high-acuity device is extremely innovative – if successful, it gives us the potential to leapfrog our international competitors.”

Research team: Mr Clive Boyd, Prof Frank Caruso, Dr Kate Fox, Dr Kumar Ganesan, Dr David Garrett, Dr Mark Halpern, Dr Hamish Meffin, Dr David Ng, Professor Steven Prawer, Mr Michael yarrow.

Postgraduate students: Mr Shun (Leo) Bai, Mr Farhad Goodarzy, Mr Ahmed Halina, Ms Leila Koushaeian, Ms Samantha Lichter, Mr Fu Meng, Mr Alistair Stacey, Mr Nhan Tran, Mr Jiawei (Jeff) yang.

IMAGE, LEFT • • THE ELECTRODE ARRAy FOR THE HIGH-ACUITy DEVICE, MANUFACTURED FROM DIAMOND AT THE MELBOURNE MATERIALS INSTITUTE.


The interacting streams within the Stimulation Strategy Program are:

In vitro • experiments

In vivo• experiments

Computational modelling •

Psychophysics (simulated • and in patients), and

Vision processing.•

The in vitro and in vivo projects are providing structural and functional data on the effects of electrical stimulation in the retina. This will inform the strategies

used to reliably and safely activate the remaining cells in the retina. This work involves close collaborations between the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering (GSBmE) at the University of New South Wales, Prof John Morley’s group at the University of Western Sydney, Prof Michael Ibbotson’s group at the Australian National University and Prof Rob Shepherd’s group at the Bionic Ear Institute.

The computational modelling teams, led by Prof Anthony Burkitt at the University of Melbourne and Dr Socrates Dokos at the University of New South Wales, are simulating the effects of stimulation in a retina using data collected in the in vitro and in vivo projects as well as developing stimulation algorithms.

The development of a human psychophysics test system has begun in preparation for the first patients testing the wide-view device. This work is led by Prof Peter Blamey at the Bionic Ear Institute.

Within the vision processing project, led by A/Prof Nick Barnes, a navigation environment was completed in 2010 for testing simulated phosphene vision (what patients may actually see with the retinal implant). Some participants with healthy vision have already been tested using a wearable, mobile virtual reality kit and specially developed navigation software, with promising results showing a stable representation of the environment. A prototype face zooming device has been developed and tested with a low vision patient in collaboration with the Clinical Program.

Stimulation Strategy•••

Prof Nigel Lovell (UNSW) Program Leader, Stimulation Strategy

“We hope that this technology will restore patients’ ability to recognise obstacles, help navigate their surroundings and perhaps give them the ability to read simple text.”

Research team: A/Prof Nick Barnes, Prof Peter Blamey, Prof Anthony Burkitt, Dr Spencer Chen, Mr Hugh Dennet, Dr Socrates Dokos, A/Prof David Grayden, Dr Rylie Green, Dr Xuming He, Mr Saiful Joarder, Dr yi Li, Dr Hongdong Li, Dr Paulette Lieby, Dr Nianjun Liu, Dr Tatiana Kameneva, Dr Hamish Meffin, Dr Chris McCarthy, Prof Hugh McDermott, Ms Elma O’Sullivan-Green, Dr Craig Savage, Dr Chunhua Shen, Mr Nick Sinclair, Mr Kyle Slater, Dr Bahman Tahayori, Dr Janine Walker, Dr Robert Wilke.

Postgraduate students: Ms Miganoosh Abramian, Mr Khurrum Aftab, Mr Umar Ansari, Mr Christian Braun, Mr Josef Goding, Mr Amgad Habib, Ms Rachelle Hassarati, Mr Louis Jung, Ms Gita Khalili, Ms Emily O’Brien, Mr Nicholas Opie, Mr Kyoungup Park, Mr Samunda Perera, Mr Alejandro Rivera, Mr Nitzan Shany, Mr Hamza Toor, Mr David Tsai, Mr Tao Wang, Mr Shijie yin.

The Stimulation Strategy team is working on developing the most effective and safe ways to stimulate the surviving cells in the retina, so electrical impulses can then be passed from the eye, along the optic nerve to the vision processing centres of the brain. This program brings together researchers from the University of New South Wales, the Bionic Ear Institute, NICTA and the University of Melbourne.

RESEARCH REPORT


IMAGE, LEFT • • MS MICHELLE MCPHEDRAN IS PART OF THE BVA PRECLINICAL TEAM AT THE BIONIC EAR INSTITUTE.

In collaboration with the Surgical Program, the placement of electrodes in the suprachoroidal space has been optimised in a series of acute and chronic implantation studies. These studies have established the safe distance from the optic disc of a suprachoroidal electrode array to prevent inducing retinal folding. Further, they have provided key

information about the safe size and mechanical characteristics of a suprachoroidal array.

An initial biocompatibility study of diamond for the high-acuity device has been completed and studies attempting to stimulate retinal neurons, using fine nitrogen-doped diamond electrodes, have commenced.

The Preclinical Program has developed light microscopy histology techniques for the human eye as well as the hardware and software to automatically measure electrode impedance of up to 100 electrodes a minute. Electrophysiology techniques to perform acute experiments recording multichannel responses (maximum 98 channels) from the visual cortex to electrical stimulation of the retina have also been developed and tested.

Preclinical

•••

Prof Rob Shepherd (Bionic Ear Institute) Program Leader, Preclinical Program

“Success in developing any implantable bionic technology is based on careful, multidisciplinary research to ensure that patients ultimately receive safe and effective devices.”

Research team: Ms Rebecca Argent, Prof Peter Blamey, Ms Elisa Borg, Dr Morven Cameron, Dr Shaun Cloherty, Ms Anne Coco, Dr James Fallon, A/Prof Erica Fletcher, Ms Alexia Freemantle, Dr Ursula Greferath, Mr Mark Harrison, A/Prof Penny McKelvie, A/Prof Michael Ibbotson, Prof Hugh McDermott, Ms Michelle McPhedran, Mr Rodney Millard, Prof John Morley, Dr David Nayagam, Dr Brenden O’Brien, Dr Sue Pierce, Ms Andrewa Rassell, Prof Peter Seligman, Dr Mohit Shivdasani, Mr Kyle Slater, Dr Kirstan Vessey, A/Prof Chris Williams, A/Prof Richard Williams, Dr Jin Xu.

Postgraduate students: Ms Rosemary Cicione, Mr Alex Hadjinicolaou, Mr Sam John, Ms Emily O’Brien, Mr Joscha Specks, Mr Joel Villalobos, Mr Raymond Wong.

The Preclinical research team is working on demonstrating the safety and efficacy of retinal implants prior to the application of these devices in the first tests with patients. Predominantly, this program is based at the Bionic Ear Institute, but also involves researchers from the Australian National University, the University of Melbourne and University of Western Sydney.


Clinical

•••

The clinicians at the Centre for Eye Research Australia are developing a database of patients with various degrees and durations of retinitis pigmentosa (RP), age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and other retinal degenerations. These patients are being recruited through Retina

Australia, referrals from ophthalmologists and BVA website enquiries to participate in a series of visual function studies, which began in October 2010. The results from this initial clinical study will guide the development of a selection protocol for the first retinal implant patients.

The clinical team began work in 2010 to develop and validate tests for assessing visual function, daily living tasks and vision-related quality of life in patients. These tests will be used to assess the efficacy of the retinal implant in the first patients.

The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital has committed space for CERA’s BVA projects, specifically in the area of patient assessment.

During 2010, Dr Sharon Haymes undertook a two-month Churchill Fellowship in which she visited low vision research groups in Europe, Japan and the USA. She met with researchers in international bionic eye development teams to discuss patient assessment and training post-implant.

The Clinical research team is working on establishing clinical tests for appropriate selection of patients, assessing and monitoring eye health, visual performance and vision-related quality of life at pre- and post-implantation. This program is based at the Centre for Eye Research Australia.

Prof Robyn Guymer (Centre for Eye Research Australia) Program Leader, Clinical and Surgical Programs

“Australia’s first bionic eye could change the lives of millions of people world-wide who suffer from irreversible vision loss and blindness.”

Research team: Dr Khin-Zaw Aung, Dr Lauren Ayton, Dr Lucy Busija, Prof Jonathan Crowston, Mr Peter Dimitrov, Dr Sharon Haymes, Prof Jill Keefe, Dr Chi Luu, Dr Galina Makeyeva, Dr Gwyneth Rees, Ms Mary Varsamidis.

IMAGE, LEFT • • THE DRAWING ON THE LEFT SHOWS A RETINA AFFECTED By RETINITIS PIGMENTOSA – THERE IS A LOSS OF THE PHOTORECEPTOR CELLS, THE RODS AND CONES, AND A THINNING OF THE CHOROID, WHICH CONTAINS THE BLOOD VESSELS SUPPLyING NUTRIENTS TO THE EyE.

RESEARCH REPORT


The Surgical Program works closely with the Clinical, Preclinical and Device Development Programs to provide surgical support for the safety and efficacy studies as well as carrying out clinical assessments of eye health following implantation.

Surgical studies in 2010 focused on assessing the feasibility of the electrode design and fabrication as well as optimising the placement of the electrode array within the eye for both the wide-view and high-acuity retinal implants. Surgical techniques are being developed using cadaver studies.

The use of x-ray guided surgery in 2010 has allowed surgeons and developers to observe the stresses on the device during implantation and the first study clearly demonstrated the degree of flexibility in the tip of the electrode array.

Surgical

••• The Surgical research team is developing new surgical procedures and equipment for implantation of the wide-view and high-acuity devices and will lead the first patient tests of the wide-view device. This program is based at the Centre for Eye Research Australia and the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.

Dr Penny Allen Vitreo-retinal Surgeon

“The surgical team are working hard to develop safe, reproducible strategies to implant the devices with minimal trauma to the tissues of the eye.”

Research team: Dr Penny Allen, Dr Willie Campbell, Dr Chi Luu, Dr Mark McCombe, Dr Jonathan yeoh.

IMAGE, LEFT • • DR PENNy ALLEN AND DR JONATHAN yEOH DURING SURGERy.


Launch Event: Bionic Vision AustraliaOn Tuesday, 30 March, BVA was formally launched as an unincorporated joint venture between the member organisations. To mark the

occasion, the University of Melbourne hosted an event where the first BVA prototype design was unveiled to guests and members of the media. The Honourable Kevin Rudd (then Prime Minister of Australia) was in attendance, commenting that he had “never heard of anything quite as inspiring as this particular idea.”

Thanks to the University of Melbourne Media Unit and Mr Luan Ismahil from NICTA for hosting and coordinating the event.

Visitors, events and communication•••

“This is truly a revolution and may be the biggest thing in terms of blindness and low vision since Louis Braille invented the braille alphabet over 200 years ago.”

Kevin Murfitt, Chairman, Vision Australia.

Planning Day: World Café WorkshopIn April 2010 BVA hosted a planning workshop, bringing together for the first time, all researchers, students and staff involved with the project. This was a unique opportunity for everyone to learn about each other’s expertise and start building a culture of sharing and collaboration.

Thank you to Ms Kathleen Jordan for facilitating and to all who attended and contributed to discussions.

Discussion Rounds: Monash Vision GroupIn October and December, BVA met with the Monash Vision Group, also funded by the Australian Research Council, to discuss areas of common research interest and to plan for future meetings.

Visitor: Professor Eberhart Zrenner, University of Tübingen, Retina Implant GroupIn November, Professor Eberhart Zrenner, head of the Tübingen Retina Implant Group visited the BVA labs in Melbourne and Sydney and presented a talk about his groups’ progress and research. During his visit to Australia, Prof Zrenner met with researchers across the BVA programs and was particularly impressed with the number of young, energetic researchers involved with the project.

Prof Zrenner is Director of the Institute for Ophthalmic Research at the Centre for Ophthalmology and head of the Neuro-Ophthalmology Unit at the University of Tübingen, Germany.

IMAGE, LEFT • • THE HONOURABLE KEVIN RUDD AT THE BIONIC VISION AUSTRALIA LAUNCH IN MARCH.


Visitor: Associate Professor Joseph Rizzo, Boston Retinal Implant ProjectBVA was privileged to welcome A/Prof Joseph Rizzo, founder of the Boston Retinal Implant Project, to Australia in December, during which time he met with researchers in BVA laboratories in Sydney and Melbourne. He delivered a lecture as part of the ICT for Life Sciences Forum on 6 December 2010 entitled: “The Conundrum of the Field of Retinal Prosthetics,” attended by about 90 people.

A/Prof Rizzo is a member of the full-time academic faculty at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and serves as the Director of the Center for Innovative Visual Rehabilitation at the Boston VA. He is an Associate Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School.

Community OutreachThe launch of BVA in March sparked a great deal of interest in the project, with significant media coverage nationally and many queries from the vision-impaired community. To our knowledge, approximately 60 items appeared in national and international media channels (including print, TV and radio) in the days immediately following the announcement. Since then, many BVA researchers have been approached for interviews and comment, with approximately 20 more mentions throughout the year.

To enable a range of audiences, including the vision-impaired community, to easily access information about the project, the BVA website was redeveloped in 2010 to ensure all content is well-presented and accessible. The website provides information about the consortium, the technology for both prototypes and information for people who are interested in participating in patient tests. A contact form has been set up that enables website visitors to make an enquiry about the project or register their interest in being involved with the research. In 2010, BVA received over 100 queries through the website, illustrating the widespread interest in BVA research.

www.bionicvision.org.au/about/contact

IMAGES ABOVE • • TOP: RESEARCHERS AND STAFF ACROSS THE BIONIC EyE PROJECT GOT TOGETHER IN APRIL TO PLAN FOR THE yEAR AHEAD. MIDDLE: PROF ZRENNER, RIGHT, MET WITH RESEARCHERS AT THE BIONIC EAR INSTITUTE LABS DURING HIS VISIT TO MELBOURNE. BOTTOM: PROFESSORS ROB SHEPHERD, HUGH TAyLOR AND DAVID PENINGTON WELCOME A/PROF JOE RIZZO (2ND FROM RIGHT) TO MELBOURNE.


Commercialisation

••• The technology for a bionic eye is still in the research phase. BVA is looking forward to implementing a commercialisation plan to bring a retinal implant to the market.

Bionic Vision Technologies Pty Ltd (ACN 124 162 634) is a company established for the specific purpose of commercialising the technology arising from BVA’s research.

It is a priority for Bionic Vision Technologies to ensure that any commercialised bionic vision system is available to as many patients as possible. The company will be engaging regulatory expertise and advocating for a reimbursement scheme, in order to ensure that the technology is readily available to the vision impaired members of our community.

This newly formed company is preparing a business plan, which will help guide the development of commercial activities of BVA. The company will commence business development activities in 2011 as well as preparations for patient tests. Following successful patient test results the company intends to explore venture capital sources.

Background IP has been brought to the project from member organisations and new patents arising from research activities are in the process of being lodged. Consequently, part of the role of Bionic Vision Technologies is to implement a process for managing the IP outcomes of BVA’s research. These business decisions will be made in the context of the international environment. The company has commissioned an IP landscape report.

The company’s board of directors consists of: Dr Colin Sutton (Chair), Associate Professor Laurent Rivory, Dr Charlie Day, Professor Peter Blamey and Ms Julie Anne Quinn (Company Secretary). Bionic Vision Technologies is fully owned by the member organisations that make up the BVA joint venture.


Notes 2010 ($)

Income

Cash Revenue

Australian Research Council Funding 14,290,501

Total Cash Revenue 14,290,501

In Kind Contributions

Member Organisations 11,300,056

Partner Organisations 192,973

Total In Kind Contributions 11,493,029

Total Cash Revenue and In Kind Contributions 25,783,530

Expenditure

Cash

Research Operations 1 4,493,262

Business Operations 450,182

Total Cash Expenditure 4,943,444

In Kind

Research Operations 10,917,164

Business Operations 575,865

Total in Kind Expenses 11,493,029

Total Cash and In Kind Expenses 16,436,473

Surplus 2 9,347,057

NOTES:

1. Equipment

Research cash expenditure includes equipment expenditure of $1,971,474.

Equipment purchase commitments as at year end are $481,631 and excluded from the above.

2. Surplus

The surplus is a flow on from the later than expected commencement of operations and will be carried forward into 2011.

Included in the carry forward figure is an amount set aside to fund Strategic Research Initiatives.

Financial Report

••• Income Statement For the year ended 31 December 2010


Staff and Students

Bionic Ear InstituteResearchers Ms Rebecca Argent BSc (Otago)

Prof Peter Blamey BSc (Hons) (ANU), PhD (Monash)

Ms Elisa BorgMs Anne Coco BSc (Hons)Dr James Fallon BE(Hons), BSc, PhDMs Alexia Freemantle Bsc (Hons) (Deakin)

Mr Mark Harrison BE (PIT), PGradDip (Digital Comp Eng) (RMIT)

Prof Hugh McDermott BAppSc(Hons) (Melb), PhD (Melb)

Ms Michelle McPhedran BBSc (La Trobe)

Mr Rodney Millard DipElecEDr David Nayagam BSc/BE (Hons) (Melb), PhD (Melb)

Dr Sue PierceProf Peter Seligman BE, PhD (Monash)

Prof Rob Shepherd BSc, GradDipEd, PhD (Melb)

Dr Mohit Shivdasani BE (Hons) (Mumbai), ME (La Trobe), PhD (La Trobe)

Mr Nicholas Sinclair BE (Hons) (Swinburne), BSc (Swinburne)

Mr Kyle Slater BE (Hons) (Swinburne), BSc (Swinburne)

A/Prof Chris Williams BSc (Waikato), MSc (Hons) (Waikato), PhD (Auckland)

Dr Jin Xu MD MMed, DipRad, MIRStudents Ms Rosemary Cicione BElecE (La Trobe), MBioE (La Trobe)

Mr Sam John M (La Trobe)

•••

NICTA Researchers (CRL) A/Prof Nick Barnes BSc (Hons) (Melb), PhD (Melb)

Mr Hugh Dennett BSc (Hons) (ANU)

Dr Xuming He PhD (Toronto)

Dr Yi Li PhD (Maryland)

Dr Hongdong Li (left in 2010)Dr Paulette Lieby PhD (Charles Darwin)

Dr Nianjun Liu PhD (Queensland)

Dr Chris McCarthy PhD (ANU)

Dr Chunhua Shen PhD (Adelaide)

Dr Janine Walker MA, MAPS, PhD (Melbourne)

Students (CRL) – enrolled at the Australian National University Mr Khurrum Aftab MCompSc (Lahor)

Mr Kyoungup Park MSc (Southern California)

Mr Samunda Perera BSc (Hons) (Moratuwa)

Mr Tao Wang BE (South China)

Researchers (VRL) Mr Clive Boyd MSc (Melb)

Dr Mark Halpern PhD (Melb)

Dr Hamish Meffin PhD (Sydney)

Dr David Ng BEng (Singapore), MSc (Singapore), PhD (Nara)

Prof Stan Skafidas BE(Hons) (Melb), BSc (Melb), MESc (Melb), PhD (Melb)

Mr Michael Yarrow MSc

Students (VRL) – enrolled at the University of Melbourne Mr Shun (Leo) Bai BScMr Farhad Goodarzy MSc (Melb)

Ms Leila KoushaeianMr Fu Meng BEMr Nicholas OpieMr Nhan Tran MSc (Kyung Hee)

Mr Jiawei (Jeff) Yang BE (Zhejiang)

Mr Joscha Specks

Mr Joel Villalobos BSc

Centre for Eye Research AustraliaResearchers Dr Penny Allen MBBS, FRANZCODr Khin-Zaw Aung MBBS (Burma), Grad Dip Applied Science (Swinburne)

Dr Lauren Ayton BOptom (Melb), PhD (Melb)

Dr Lucy Busija BA (Hons) (Swinburne), Grad Dip HealthStat (Swinburne), MSc (Swinburne), PhD (Melb)

Dr Willie Campbell MBBS, FRANZCOProf Jonathan Crowston MBBS (London), BSc (London), PhD (UCL), FRANZCP, FRCophth (UK)

Mr Peter Dimitrov BOrthoptics (Hons) (La Trobe)

Prof Robyn Guymer MBBS (Melb), PhD (Melb), FRANZCODr Sharon Haymes BOptom (Melb), PhD (Melb)

Prof Jill Keeffe BA (New England), PhD (Melb)

Dr Chi Luu (BOrthoptics (Hons) (La Trobe), GradDip Epidemiology and Biostatistics (Melb), PhD (La Trobe)

Dr Galina Makayeva MBBS, PhD (Odessa)

Dr Mark McCombe MBBS, FRANZCODr Gwyneth Rees BSc (Hons) (Nottingham), Dip Applied Psychology (Nottingham), Msc (Bristol), PhD (Edinburgh)

Ms Mary Varsamidis BSc, BOrth (La Trobe)

Dr Jonathan Yeoh MBBS, FRANZCO


University of MelbourneAnatomy and Cell BiologyResearchers A/Prof Erica Fletcher BScOptom (Melb), MSc, PhD (Melb)

Dr Ursuala Greferath BSc (Hons) (Frankfurt), PhD (Frankfurt)

Ms Andrewa Rassell BBiomedSc (Wellington)

Dr Kirstan Vessey BSc (Hons) (Melb), PhD (Melb)

Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Melbourne School of EngineeringResearchers Prof Anthony Burkitt BSc (ANU), BSc (ANU), PhD (Edinburgh)

A/Prof David Grayden BSc (Melb), BE (Melb), PhD (Melb)

Ms Elma O’Sullivan GreeneDr Tatiana Kameneva BSc (Kazakhstan), MSc (Kazakhstan), PhD (Melb)

Dr Craig Savage BSc (Northwestern), MSc (Arizona), MBA (Arizona), PhD (Melb)

Dr Bahman Tahayori BE (Shiraz), ME (Tehran), PhD (Melb)

Students Ms Emily O’Brien BE (Adel)

Melbourne Materials InstituteResearchers Prof Frank Caruso BSc (Hons) (Melb), PhD (Melb)

Dr Kate Fox BEng (Hons)/BSc (Flinders), PhD (UniSA), MIP (UTS)

Dr Kumar Ganesan BSc (Hons) (Jaffna), MSc (Peradeniya), PhD (Canterbury)

Mr David Garrett BSc (Hons) (Canterbury), PhD (Canterbury)

Prof Steven Prawer BSc (Monash), PhD (Monash), DSc (Melb)

Students Mr Ahmed Halima BScMs Samantha Lichter BEng (Hons)/BSc (Monash)

Mr Alastair Stacey BEng (Hons)/BSc (Melb)

University of New South WalesGraduate School of Biomedical EngineeringResearchers Mr Philip Byrnes-Preston BE (UNSW)

Dr Spencer Chen BE (Hons) (UNSW), MBiomedE (UNSW), PhD (UNSW)

Mr Chris Dodds ME (UNSW)

Dr Socrates Dokos BE (Hons) (UNSW), PhD (UNSW)

Mr Lars Elmgreen ME (Denmark)Dr Rylie Green BE (UNSW), ME (UNSW), PhD (UNSW)

Ms Rachelle HassaratiMs Wenqi Huang ME (UNSW)

Mr Saiful JoarderMr Louis Jung BTeleE (UNSW), ME (UNSW)

Mr Fabian KohlerMr Sergej Kolke DipMechE (RUB)

Dr Torsten Lehman MScEE PhD (Denmark)

Mr William LimProf Nigel Lovell BE (Hons) (UNSW), PhD (UNSW)

Dr Paul Matteucci PhD (Genova)

Mr Apoorv MintriMr Manohar NayakMr Sunil Patel ME (UNSW)

A/Prof Gregg Suaning BSc (California), MSc (California), PhD (UNSW)

Dr Robert Wilke BE (Hons) (Roma Tre), MSc (Tübingen), MD (Tübingen)

Students Ms Miganoosh Abramian BSc (Hons) (Azad), MBiomedE (UNSW) (joint position with University of Melbourne)Ms Melissa AnendenMr Umar Ansari BE (Hons) (NUST)

Mr Christian BraunMr Joseph Goding BE (Hons), MBiomedE (UNSW)

Mr Thomas Guenther MSc (IMTEK, Freiburg)

Mr Amgad Habib BSc (Hons) (Waterloo)

Ms Gita Khalili BSc (Hons) (Azad), MSc (Azad)

Mr Alejandro Rivera BE (Hons) (Seville), MBiomedE (UNSW)

Mr Nitzan Shany BE (Hons)Mr Hamza Toor BSc (Riphah)

Mr David Tsai BE (Hons) (UNSW), MBiomedE (UNSW)

Mr Shijie Yin BE (Hons) (Auckland)

University of Western SydneyResearchers Dr Morven CameronProf John Morley

The Australian National UniversityResearchers Dr Shaun Cloherty BE, PhDProf Michael Ibbotson BSc, PhD (London)

Dr Brendan O’Brien BA, PhD

Students Mr Alex Hadjinicolaou BEMr Raymond Wong BE, MSc

BVA Executive TeamMs Julie Anne Quinn General Manager, BAppSc (RMIT), Grad Dip Mktg (Monash), ME (RMIT)

Ms Tamara Brawn Project Manager, BA (La Trobe), BBSc(Hons) (La Trobe), Grad Dip Ed (Melb), MBA (UNSW)

Ms Veronika Gouskova Marketing and Communications Manager, BCom (Melb), MCom (RMIT)

Mr Wayne Bahr Finance Officer, BCom (Tas)

Ms Tracy Painter Executive Officer


Peer Reviewed Journals1. Green, R.A., Poole-Warren, L.A., Lovell, N.H. (2010),

‘Impact of co-incorporating laminin-peptide dopants and neurotrophic growth factors on conducting polymer properties.’ Acta Biomaterialia, 6: 63–71. doi:10.1016/j.actbio.2009.06.030 (A journal).

2. Green, R.A., Ordonez, J.S. Schuettler, M. Poole-Warren, L.A. Lovell, N.H. Lovell and Suaning, G.J. (2010), ‘Cytotoxicity of implantable microelectrode arrays produced by laser micromachining.’ Biomaterials, 31, 886–893 (A* journal).

3. Halpern, M. E. and Fallon, J. B., ‘Current waveforms for neural stimulation charge delivery with reduced maximum electrode voltage,’ IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 57(9) 2304-2312.

4. Lim, J., Barnes, N., Li, N., ‘Estimating Relative Camera Motion from the Antipodal-Epipolar Constraint,’ IEEE Trans Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 32(10), October 2010, pp 1907-1914.

5. Lovell, N.H. Morley, J.W. Chen, S.C. Hallum, L.E. Suaning, G.J. (2010), ‘Biological-machine systems integration: engineering the neural interface.’’Proc. IEEE, 98(3):418-431 (A* journal).

6. McDonnell, M.D., Burkitt, A.N., Grayden, D.B., Meffin, H., Grant, A.J., (2010). ‘A channel model for inferring the optimal number of electrodes for future Cochlear implants,’ IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 56(2) 928-940.

7. Meffin,H., Kameneva, T., (2010, in press), ‘The electrotonic length constant: A theoretical estimate for neuroprosthetic electrical stimulation,’ Biomed.SignalProcess.Control.

8. Poole-Warren, L.A., Lovell, N.H., Baek, S. and Green, R.A. (2010), ‘The development of bioactive conducting polymers for neural interfaces.’ Expert Review of Medical Devices, 7(1): 35-49.

9. Shen, C., Kim, J., Wang, L., ‘Scalable large-margin mahalanobis distance metric learning,’ IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, published online 12 August 2010.

10. Shen, C., Kim, J., Wang, L., ‘Generalized kernel-based visual tracking,’ IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, 2010.

11. Shen, C., Li, H., ‘Boosting through optimization of margin distributions,’ IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, 2010.

12. Shen, C., Li, H., ‘On the dual formulation of boosting algorithms,’ IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 2010.

Publications Listing•••

13. Shivdasani, M.N., Luu, C.D., Cicione, R., Fallon, J.B., Allen, P.J., Leuenberger, J., Suaning, G.J., Lovell, N.H., Shepherd, R.K., Williams, C.E. (2010), ‘Evaluation of stimulus parameters and electrode geometry for an effective suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis.’ J. Neural Eng. - JNE/347737/PAP/247061 7: 036008 (11pp).

14. Wilke, R.G.H., Khalili, G., Dokos, S., Suaning, G.J., Lovell, N.H. (2010), ‘Stimulation of the retinal network in bionic vision devices: from multi-electrode arrays to pixelated vision.’ Neural Information Processing. Theory and Algorithms: Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 6443/2010: 140-147. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-17537-4_18.

15. yang, J., Tran, N., Bai, S., Ng, D.C., Halpern, M., Skafidas, E., ‘A super low power CMOS receiver for high resolution epi-retinal prosthesis’, Journal of Energy and Power Engineering, David Publishing Company, USA, Aug. 2010, Volume 4, No.8 (Serial No.33), pp 32-39.

Book Chapters1. Chen, S.C., Hallum, L.E., Wong, y.T., Dommel, N.B.,

Byrnes-Preston, P.J., Suaning, G.J., Lovell, N.H. (2010), ‘Artificial vision’ in Encyclopedia on Biomedical Engineering, Ed. M. Akay, Wiley Press, Ny, USA, DOI: 10.1002/9780471740360.ebs0080.

2. Green, R.A., Baek, S., Lovell, N.H., Poole-Warren, L.A. (2010), ‘Nanostructured conductive polymers as biomaterials’ in Nanostructured Conducting Polymers, Ed. A. Eftekhari.

3. Hallum, L.E., Lovell, N.H. (2010, in press), ‘Information theoretical approach to visual stimulation’ in Visual prosthetics: physiology, bioengineering and rehabilitation, Ed. G. Dagnelie, Springer.

Peer Reviewed Conference Proceedings1. Abramian, M., Dokos, S., Morley, J.W., Lovell, N.H.

(2010), ‘Activation of ganglion cell axons following epiretinal electrical stimulation with hexagonal electrodes.’ Proc. 32nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1- 4 September 2010, 4pp.

2. Ansari, U., Dokos, S., Lovell, N.H., Suaning, G.J. (2010), ‘Modeling of microcavity electrodes for medical implants,’ Proc. 32nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1-4 September 2010, 4pp.

3. Brewer, N., Liu, N., Wang, L., Cheng, L., ‘Guided Informative Image Partitioning,’ Joint IAPR International Workshops on Structural and Syntactic Pattern Recognition (SSPR 2010) and Statistical Techniques in Pattern Recognition (SPR 2010), Cesme, Izmir, Turkey, August 2010, pp 202-212.

4. Brewer, N., Liu, N., Wang, L., ‘Stereo Disparity Calculation in Real-World Scenes with Informative Image Partitioning,’ 25th International Conference of Image and Vision Computing New Zealand, Queenstown, New Zealand, November 2010.

5. Cloherty, S.L., Hietanen, M.A., Suaning, G.J., I bbotson, M.R. (2010), ‘Focal activation of primary visual cortex following supra-choroidal electrical stimulation of the retina: Intrinsic signal imaging and linear model analysis,’ Proc. 32nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1-4 September 2010, 4pp.


6. Fu, M., yang, J., Tran, N., Bai, S., Ng, D. C., Halpern, M., Skafidas, E., Mareels, I. ‘A GFSK demodulator for ultra-low power MICS band receiver.’ Fifth International Conference on Broadband and Biomedical Communications (IB2Com 2010), Malaga, Spain, 15-17 December 2010.

7. Ganesan, K., Stacey, A., Meffin, H., Lichter, S., Greferath, U., Fletcher, E.L., Prawer, S., ‘Diamond penetrating electrode array for epi-retinal prosthesis,’ Proc. 32nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1-4 September 2010, 4pp.

8. Green, R.A., Matteucci, P., Chen, S.C.y., Byrnes-Preston, P.J., Poole-Warren, L.A., Lovell, N.H., Suaning, G.J. (2010), ‘Conducting polymer electrodes for visual prostheses,’ Proc. 32nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1-4 September 2010, 4pp.

9. Hanyang, T., Liu, S., Liu, N., Barnes, N., ‘A novel object-oriented stereo matching on multi-scale superpixels for low-resolution depth mapping,’ Proceedings of the 32nd Annual International IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Conference (IEEE-EMBS), Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 2010.

10. Hao, Z., Shen, C., Barnes, N., Wang, B., ‘Totally-corrective multi-class boosting,’ Proceedings of the Asian Conference on Computer Vision, Queenstown, New Zealand, November 2010.

11. Jia, K., Cheng, L., Liu, N., Wang, L., ‘Efficient learning to label images,’ Proceeding of 20th International Conference on Pattern Recognition ICPR 2010, Istanbul, August 2010, pp 942-945.

12. Jia, K., Wang, L., Liu, N., ‘Efficient structured support vector regression,’ Asian Conference on Computer Vision ACCV, Queenstown, New Zealand, November 2010.

13. Kameneva, T., Meffin, H., Burkitt, A.N., ‘Differential stimulation of ON and OFF retinal ganglion cells: A modeling study,’ Proc. of the Engineering in Medicine Biology and Control (EMBC) Conference, August 2010, pp. 4246 - 4249.

14. Lehmann, T., Chun, H., Preston, P., Suaning, G.J., ‘Current-limited passive charge recovery for implantable neuro-stimulators: Power savings, modelling and characterisation.’ IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems, Paris, France, 30 May - 2 June 2010.

15. Li, H., Wang, P., Shen, C., ‘Robust face recognition via accurate face alignment and sparse representation,’ International Conference on Digital Image Computing: Techniques and Applications (DICTA’10), Sydney, Australia, 2010.

16. McCarthy, C., Barnes, N., ‘Surface extraction from iso-disparity contours’, Proceedings of the Asian Conference on Computer Vision, Queenstown, New Zealand, November 2010.

17. Ng, D.C., Bai, S., Boyd, C., Tran, N., yang, J., Halpern, M., and Skafidas, E. ‘High efficiency double-paired inductive coils for wireless powering of a retinal prosthesis,’ Proceedings of the Seventh IASTED International Conference on Biomedical Engineering (BioMed2010), Innsbruck, 17-19 February 2010, vol. 2, pp. 106-110.

18. Ng, D. C., Boyd, C., Bai, S., Felic, G., Halpern, M., and Skafidas, E. ‘High-Q flexible spiral inductive coils,’ in Proc. Electromagnetic Compatibility Symposium, 9-10 September 2010, Melbourne, Paper 6C.

19. O’Brien, E., Fletcher, E.L., Meffin, H., Burkitt, A.N., Grayden, D.B., Greferath, U. (2010) ‘Viability of the inner retina in a novel mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa,’ Proc. 32nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC’10), Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1-4 September 2010.

20. Opie, N.L., Burkitt, A.N., Meffin, H., Grayden, D.B., ‘Thermal heating of a retinal prosthesis: Thermal model and in-vitro study,’ Proc. 32nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC’10), Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1-4 September 2010.

21. Paisitkriangkrai, S., Shen, C., Zhang, J., ‘Face detection with effective feature extraction,’ Asian Conference on Computer Vision (ACCV’10), New Zealand, 2010.

22. Shen, C., Wang, P., Li, H., ‘Lacboost and fisherboost: optimally building cascade classifiers,’ European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV’10), Crete Island, Greece, 2010.

23. Shi, Q., Li, H., Shen, C., ‘Rapid face recognition using hashing’ IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR’10), San Francisco, USA, 2010.

24. Stieglitz, T., Huang, W., Chen, S.C.y., Morley, J.W., Lovell, N.H., Suaning, G.J. (2010). ‘A transparent electrode array for simultaneous cortical potential recording and intrinsic signal optical imaging,’ Proc. 32nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1-4 September 2010, 4pp.

25. Suaning, G.J., Kisban, S.A., Chen, S.C.y., Byrnes-Preston, P.J., Dodds, C., Tsai, D., Matteucci, P., Herwik, S., Morley, J.W., Lovell, N.H., Paul, O., Stieglitz, T., Ruther, T. (2010), ‘Discrete cortical responses from multi-site supra-choroidal electrical stimulation in the feline retina,’ Proc. 32nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1-4 September 2010, 4pp.

26. Tran, N., yang, J., Bai, S., Skafidas, E., Mareels, I., Ng, D. C., Halpern, M., ‘A flexible electrode driver using 65 nm CMOS process for 1024-electrode epi-retinal prosthesis,’ Design, Analysis and Tools for Integrated Circuits and Systems (IEEE DATICS 2010), Busan, South Korea, 21-23 May 2010, pp. 1-5.

27. Tran, N., yang, J., Bai, S., Skafidas, E., Mareels, I., Ng, D. C., Halpern, M. ‘A flexible electrode driver using 65 nm CMOS process for 1024-electrode epi-retinal prosthesis,’ the International Workshop on Design, Analysis and Tools for Integrated Circuits and Systems, in the 5th International Conference on Future Information Technology (DATICS-FUTURETECH 2010), Busan, Korea, 20-24 May 2010.

28. Villalobos, J., Allen, P.J., McCombe, M.F., Shepherd, R.K., Williams, C.E., ‘Implantation trauma of a wide-field retinal prosthesis.’ The Eye and the Chip - World Congress on Artificial Vision, Detroit, USA, 13-15 September 2010.

29. Wang, P., Shen, C., Barnes, N., Zheng, H., Ren, Z., ‘Asymmetric totally-corrective boosting for real-time object detection,’ Proceedings of the Asian Conference on Computer Vision, Queenstown, New Zealand, November 2010.

30. Wang, P., Shen, C., Zheng, H., Ren, Z., ‘Training a multi-exit cascade with linear asymmetric classification for efficient object detection,’ IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP’10), Hong Kong 2010.

31. Wilke, R.G.H., Khalili, G., Dokos, S., Suaning, G.J., Lovell, N.H., ‘Stimulation of the retinal network in bionic vision devices: from multi-electrode arrays to pixelated vision,’ ICONIP 2010 - 17th International Conference on Neural Information Processing, Sydney, Australia, 22-25 November 2010.


Publications Listing (cont)

32. Xie, y., Liu, S., Liu, N., ‘Evaluating multi-scale over-/segment and its contribution to real scene stereo matching by high-order MRFs,’ Proceedings of the International Conference on Digital Image Computing: Techniques and Applications (DICTA’10), Sydney, Australia, IEEE Press, 2010.

33. yang, J., Fu, M., Skafidas, E., Tran, N., Bai, S., Mareels, I., Ng, D.C., Halpern, M., ‘A super low power MICS band receiver front-end down converter on 65 nm CMOS,’ The 3rd International Conference on BioMedical Engineering and Informatics (IEEE BMEI 2010), yantai, China, 16-18 October 2010, Vol 4, pp 1412-1415.

34. yang, J., Tran, N., Bai, S., Fu, M., Skafidas, E., Mareels, I., Halpern, M., ‘An ultra low power, wide input range MICS band channel selection filter on 65 nm CMOS,’ IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference 2010 (IEEE BioCAS 2010), Phapos, Cyprus, 3-5 November 2010, pp 218-221.

35. yin, S., Lovell, N.H., Suaning, G.J., Dokos, S., ‘A continuum model of the retinal network and its response to electrical stimulation,’ Proc. 32nd Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1-4 September 2010, 4pp.

36. Zheng, y., Shen, C., Hartley, R., Huang, X., ‘Pyramid center-symmetric local binary/trinary patterns for effective pedestrian detection,’ Asian Conference on Computer Vision (ACCV’10), New Zealand, 2010.

Conference Abstracts1. Abramian, M., Dokos, S., Lovell, N.H., ‘In vitro epiretinal

stimulation using a hexagonal electrode arrangement.’ 30th Annual Meeting of the Australian Neuroscience Society (ANS), Sydney, Australia, 31 January – 3 February 2010.

2. Alvares, D., Prevot, P.H., Matteucci, P., Micolich, A., Ladouceur, F., Lovell, N.H.,’Inkjet printed organic transistors for integrated biomedical sensors,’ 19th Australian Institute of Physics Congress, Melbourne, Australia, 5-9 December 2010.

3. Ayton, L. N., Luu, C. D., Guymer, R. H., ‘Choroidal thickness profiles in retinitis pigmentosa.’ Poster accepted for the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting, Fort Lauderdale, USA, 1-5 May 2011.

4. Burkitt A.N., ‘Retinal prostheses for the vision impaired’, 8th National Deaf-blind Conference 2010, Melbourne, Australia, 28-30 April 2010 (http://www.ableaustralia.org.au/deafblind-conference-2010.asp).

5. Burkitt A.N., ‘Retinal implants `down under’ - the research program of Bionic Vision Australia,’ The Eye and the Chip - World Congress on Artificial Vision, Detroit, USA, 13-15 September 2010 (http://www.eyeson.org/).

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6. Burkitt A.N., ‘Neuro-Engineering: An overview of the research program of Bionic Vision Australia,’ Engineering and Physical Sciences in Medicine and the Australian Biomedical Engineering Conference 2010 (EPSM-ABEC 2010), Melbourne, Australia, 5-9 December 2010 (http://www.epsmabec2010.org/).

7. Fletcher, E.L., O’Brien, E.E., Greferath, U. ‘Ganglion cell changes in transgenic FTL-rd1 mice at late stages of retinal degeneration are associated with glial cell dysfunction,’ 14th International Symposium on Retinal Degeneration, Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, Canada, 2010.

8. Ganesan, K., Stacey, A., Meffin, H., Lichter, S., Greferath, U., Fletcher, E. L., Prawer, S., ‘Diamond penetrating electrode array for bionic eye,’ 19th Australian Institute of Physics Congress, Melbourne, Australia, 5-9 December 2010.

9. Green, R.A., Baek, S.C., Lovell, N.H. Martens, P. and Poole-Warren, L.A., ‘Bioactive conducting hydrogels for neural interfaces.’ 20th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, Brisbane, Australia, 11 February 2010.

10. Green, R. A., Goding, J., Baek, S., Lovell, N.H., Martens, P.J., Poole-Warren, L.A., ‘Engineering neural interfaces,’ The 10th New Jersey Symposium on Biomaterials Science, New Brunswick, USA, 27-28 October 2010.

11. Hadjinicolaou, A.E., Hietanen, M.A., Suaning, G.J., Ibbotson, M.R. and Cloherty, S.L., ‘Focal activation of visual cortex through suprachoroidal electrical stimulation of the retina,’ 30th Annual Meeting of the Australian Neuroscience Society (ANS), Sydney, Australia, 31 January – 3 February 2010.

12. Kameneva, T., Meffin, H., Burkitt, A.N., ‘Modelling of ON and OFF retinal ganglion cells (RGCS),’ Poster presentation at the Australian Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, Sydney, Australia, 2010.

13. Kameneva, T., Meffin, H., Burkitt, A.N., ‘ON and OFF retinal ganglion cells: modeling synaptic input and response to sinusoidal stimulation,’ Poster presentation at the Australian Computational Neuroscience Workshop, Brisbane, Australia, 2010.

14. Keeffe, J. E., Francis, K. L., Luu, C.D., Barnes, N., Lamoureaux, E. L., Guymer, R. H., ‘Expectations of a visual prosthesis: perspectives from people with impaired vision,’ ARVO, 2010.

15. Lichter, S., Ganesan, K., Stacey, A., Burkitt, A., Caruso, F., Prawer, S., ‘Diamond encapsulation for a bionic eye,’ 19th Australian Institute of Physics Congress, Melbourne, Victoria, 5-9 December 2010.

16. Lichter, S., Ganesan, K., Stacey, A., Prawer, S., Caruso, F., ‘Hermetic encapsulation of the bionic eye,’ Australian Research Network for Advanced Materials (ARNAM) 2010 Annual Workshop, Adelaide, Australia, 23-25 July 2010.

17. Luu, C.D., Shivdasani, M., Cicione, R., John, S., Allen, P., Fallon, J., McCombe, M., Freemantle, A., Morley, J., Shepherd, R., Guymer, R.H., Williams, C.E. ‘Optimising electrical stimulation parameters for a bionic eye,’ The 42nd Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists Congress, Adelaide, Australia, 20-24 November 2010.

18. Meffin, H., Kameneva, T., ‘Reduced theoretical estimates of the electrotonic length constant for neuroprosthetic electrical stimulation,’ Poster presentation at the Australian Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting, Sydney Australia, 2010.

19. Meffin, H., Tahayori, B., Kameneva, T., Grayden, D., Burkitt, A.N., ‘Extending the cable formalism for extracellular stimulation,’ 4th Australian Workshop on Computational Neuroscience, Brisbane, Australia, 4-5 November 2010.


20. Mewing, J. K., Kameneva, T., Meffin, H., Burkitt, A.N., ‘Multicompartment models of ON and OFF retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) based on their intrinsic electrophysiology,’ Poster presentation at the Australian Computational Neuroscience Workshop, Brisbane, Australia, 2010.

21. O’Brien, E.E., Fletcher, E.L., Greferath, U., ‘Mapping retinal degeneration in Rd1-FTL mice,’ Australian Neuroscience Society Conference, Sydney, Australia, 2010.

22. Stacey, A., McGuinness, L. P., Simpson, D., Ganesan, K., Hall, L. T., Hallima, A., Meffin, H., Lichter S., Hollenberg, L. C. L., Prawer, S., ‘First steps in coherent spin sensors and diamond based bioimaging,’ De Beers Diamond Conference, Warwick, UK, 13-16 July 2010.

23. Tsai, D., Morley. J. W., Suaning, G. J., Lovell, N. H., ‘Inactivation of sodium current modulates retinal ganglion cell response rate during high frequency stimulation,’ Neuroscience 2010, San Diego, USA, 13-17 November 2010.

24. Wong, R. C. S., Raj, D. S., Cloherty, S. L., Ibbotson, M. R. and O’Brien, E. J., ‘Intrinsic physiological properties of rat retinal ganglion cells.’ 30th Annual Meeting of the Australian Neuroscience Society (ANS), Sydney, Australia, 31 January – 3 February 2010.

Invited Presentations at International/National Conferences and Workshops1. Burkitt A.N., ‘Retinal implant development for the vision

impaired’, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Japan, 8 September 2010.

2. Burkitt A.N., ‘Bionic eye development - ‘See the future’,’ AusMedtech, Melbourne, Australia, 22 September 2010, (https://www.ausbiotech.org/events/details.asp?eventid=846&returnToUrl=%2Fdefault.asp).

3. Burkitt A.N., ‘Retinal implant development for the sight impaired: An overview of the Bionic Vision Australia research program,’ NICTA Canberra Research Laboratory ‘Big Picture’ Seminar Series, 2 December 2010, (http://www.nicta.com.au/nicta_events/big_picture/canberra_research_lab_seminars/previous_seminars).

4. Burkitt A.N., ‘Retinal implant development for the sight impaired: An overview of the Bionic Vision Australia research program,’ Victorian Chapter of Engineers Australia College of Biomedical Engineering and the Society for Medical & Biological Engineering, Melbourne, Australia, 17 August 2010.

5. Green R.A., Goding, J., Baek, S., Lovell, N.H., Martens P.J., Poole-Warren, L.A., ‘Engineering neural interfaces with bioactive conductive polymers,’ The 10th New Jersey Symposium on Biomaterials Science, New Brunswick, USA, 27-28 October 2010.

6. Guymer, R.H., ‘The challenges and promises of the bionic eye,’ Sydney Eye Hospital Alumni Meeting, Sydney, Australia, 31 July 2010.

7. Guymer, R.H., ‘Seeing is believing: The challenge and promise of the Bionic Eye,’ The 2010 Gerad Crock Lecture, Melbourne, Australia, 3 June 2010.

8. Lovell, N.H., ‘Australian medical device developments: From telehealth technologies to bionic eyes,’ Invited keynote at The Engineering and Physical Sciences in Medicine and the Australian Biomedical Engineering Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 5-9 December 2010.

9. Lovell, N.H., ‘Medical device technologies for improving quality of life’ Invited keynote at IEEE EMBS Conference on Biomedical Engineering & Sciences (IECBES 2010), 30 November – 2 December 2010, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

10. Lovell, N.H., ‘Technological aspects of ageing in place,’ Invited keynote at launch of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), launch of a report: Smart Technology for Healthy Longevity – with the Hon Kim Carr, Minister for DIISR, Melbourne, Australia, 22 July 2010.

11. Lovell, N.H., ‘Nanotechnology and microtechnology in the design of a visual prosthesis,’ 2nd Asia-Pacific Symposium on Nanobionics, Wollongong, Australia, 9-11 June 2010.

12. Lovell, N.H., ‘Medical device technologies for managing chronic disease and providing therapies for blindness,’ ECTI-CON 2010, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 19-21 May 2010, (http://www.ecticon2010.org/).

13. Lovell, N.H., ‘The role of biomathematical modelling and neuroscience in the design of a visual neuroprosthesis,’ ACAN Workshop, Stradbroke Island, Australia, 2010, 17 April 2010.

14. Luu, C., ‘Bionic eye research updates,’ Tasmania’s Lifestyle Congress VI - Optometrists Association Australia, Hobart, Australia, 27-29 August 2010.

15. Meffin, H., ‘The bionic eye for restoring sight in degenerative retinal diseases,’ Taiwan Australia Workshop on Bilateral Cooperation in Gerontechnology, 25-26 October 2010.

16. Nayagam, D., Villalobos, J., ‘The Bionic Eye Project,’ VSSEC Engineering and Science Careers Expo, Melbourne, Australia, 19 August 2010.

17. Shepherd, R. K., ‘Auditory and retinal prostheses,’ Brain Machine Interfaces: Implications for science, clinical practice and society, ystad Saltsjobad, Sweden, August 26-29, 2010

18. Shepherd, R. K., ‘Australia’s next generation of medical bionic technologies,’ Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. ATSE Focus. 160; 32-33, 2010.

19. Shepherd, R. K., ‘Bionic eye research and its implications for Vision Australia’ to the Board of Vision Australia, 9 December 2010.

20. Stacey A., Shpillman Z., Cowie B.C.C., Orwa J., Prawer S. and Hoffman A., ‘Near edge X-ray absorption fine structure as a tool for diamond surface engineering,’ Australian Institute of Physics Congress, Melbourne, Australia, 5-9 December 2010.

21. Suaning, G.J. and Lovell, N.H., ‘Supra-choroidal visual prosthesis – Progress towards clinical trials,’ The Eye and the Chip - World Congress on Artificial Vision, 13-15 September 2010, (http://www.eyeson.org/).

22. Suaning, G.J., ‘Supra-choroidal electrical stimulation of the retina,’Asia Pacific Conference on Vision, Taipei, Taiwan, 23-26 July 2010, (http://apcv2010.aoetek.com/).

23. Suaning, G.J., ‘Supra-choroidal electrical stimulation of the retina - Implications for visual prostheses,’ International Conference on Neural Prosthetic Devices, Beijing, China, 27-28 February 2010, (http://www.icnpd.org/).


The bionic vision system consists of a camera, attached to a pair of glasses, which transmits high-frequency radio signals to a microchip implanted in the retina. Electrodes attached to the implanted chip convert these signals into electrical impulses to stimulate cells that connect to the optic nerve. These impulses are then passed down the optic nerve to the vision processing centres of the brain, where they are interpreted as vision.

To benefit from this technology, patients need to have a functional visual pathway from the retina to the brain along the optic nerve, as well as some intact retinal cells. As such, the two medical conditions that this technology aims to address are retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration.

First prototypeThe wide-view device builds upon technologies that have been successfully employed in cochlear implants and it uses materials whose biocompatibility and biostability have been established and that have received regulatory approval in other implanted devices. The supra-choroidal placement of the device in the eye plays an important role in protecting the retina from mechanical damage during insertion and helps to maintain it in position (view image top right).

Second prototypeThe high-acuity device incorporates more innovative technologies and as such, is at an earlier stage of development than the first prototype. This device is made of stable, inert materials such as poly-crystalline doped-diamond. This second generation implant will be informed by the experience of testing the first implant patients with the wide-view device, which will accelerate the pathway of this second generation device to clinical tests. This implant provides the possibility of a generational advance over existing competitor technologies (view image bottom right).

Globally, over one and a half million people suffer from progressive vision loss as a result of retinitis pigmentosa, the primary cause of inherited blindness.

In Australia, over 50,000 people suffer from profound blindness. Age-related macular degeneration is responsible for almost half of all legal blindness in Australia.

Bionic Vision Australia is committed to developing vision prostheses to help alleviate the burden of profound blindness in patients with the two most common conditions to cause profound blindness – age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

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Inside the bionic eye

•••

•••

Inside the bionic eye Camera captures

image and transmits data to an external body worn processing unit

1 Implanted electrode array stimulates retina4 Electrical signals

sent from retina via visual pathway to vision processing centres of the brain

5

Data processed and sent to implanted system via external wire

2 Implant receives wireless signals from external unit and sends them to retinal implant via implanted wire

3

First prototype: Wide-view device

Images courtesy of Bionic Vision Australia

Camera captures image and wirelessly transmits data to implant

1 Electrical signals sent from retina via visual pathway to vision processing centres in the brain

3

Retinal implant and processor stimulates retina

2

Second prototype: High-acuity device

Wireless Transmission

Power source

Bionic Vision Australia Executive Office 203 Bouverie St Carlton, Victoria 3053 Australia

Postal Address: PO Box 623 Carlton South, Victoria 3053 Australia

www.bionicvision.org.au

Bionic Vision Australia has used its best endeavours to ensure that the material contained in this publication was correct at the time of printing. Copyright to material in this publication is owned by the members of Bionic Vision Australia. Front cover artwork: Retinal ganglion cells, rods and cones, and medical drawings throughout, copyright Beth Croce, Bioperspective.

Authorised by the Director

Published by Bionic Vision Australia, March 2011

Design by Taylor and Grace.

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AN INITIATIVE OF OUR MEMBERS OUR PARTNERS

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