Dr. Joseph Rizzo awarded grant to develop next generation visual prostheses

The research team of Harvard Medical School professor Joseph F. Rizzo III, MD, is one of three groups chosen by the U.S. Department of Defense to investigate new approaches to treat severe vision loss from traumatic eye injury and macular degeneration.

The Vision Prosthesis Pilot Study Award was created to enable development of innovative implants that can restore vision to patients whose conditions are currently untreatable due to optic nerve damage.

Dr. Rizzo’s proposed device will send signals directly to the brain’s visual processing centers by stimulating the lateral geniculate nucleus, the main connection relay between the optic nerve and the occipital lobe. He believes this strategy could restore some vision to patients with a wide variety of blinding conditions, including glaucoma and traumatic injury to the optic nerves and eye.

As co-founder of the Boston Retinal Implant Project (BRIP) and director of Massachusetts Eye and Ear Neuro-Ophthalmology Service, Dr. Rizzo has led multi-disciplinary research teams that invented portable devices, prosthetics, and support software allowing greater independence for the visually impaired for more than 25 years.

“This is only the beginning,” Dr. Kenneth Bertram, Principal Assistant for Acquisition of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command, said in a press release. “Our initiative is to restore vision and improve the quality of life for our wounded warriors and other Americans who have become blind.”