Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ENTRAIN VISION (European Network for integrated TRAINing on Innovative Therapies for VISion RestoratiON)
Reporting period: 2020-04-01 to 2022-03-31
The present ENTRAIN-Vision project aims at preparing Early Stage Researchers who will have a comprehensive view of new therapeutic approaches to vision restoration so that they can take part in future Research and Development, or in their future deployment throughout Europe. During the project, they will work on the development of these new innovative technologies for visual restoration at both the retinal and cortical levels.
During the first two years, the project results include advances with regards to
- Preclinical validation of prosthesis: characterization and testing of materials to develop a subretinal prosthesis with the investigation of the beneficial and adverse effects of electrical stimulation on the retinal tissue
- Preclinical validation of visual restoration by chemical and biological photoswitches: Evaluation of novel therapeutic strategies by using photoswitchable molecules targeted to the plasma membrane of retinal neurons and the analysis of the retinal responses to natural images, electrical or optogenetic stimulations. resulting in the identification and description of a subclass of retinal ganglion cells that are believed to encode for the contrast present in the visual images, electrophysiological recordings of single retinas in response to electrical or optogenetic stimuli, From natural vision to model for artificial vision: Modeling the electrical or optogenetic stimulation parameters to achieve long-term performance of the devices and perform usefull daily tasks
- Visual perception during retinal diseases in animal models and patients: Segregation of retinal cells according to their electric/dielectric properties for classification in different pathological conditions, behavioral assessment and modeling of the animal performance according to the disease states, interpretation of anatomical and functional 7T fMRI scan for a future cortical visual prosthesis recipient, Production of protocoles to assess the improvement of the quality of life in terms of daily activities.