Millions of people worldwide lose their sight due to damage to the retina. Electrical retinal implants could help partially restore visual perception—initial clinical trials have already shown that this is, in principle, possible. The major challenge is to develop implant chips that more closely mimic the human retina: they must function just as well in low light as they do in bright daylight, while consuming little energy and detecting a large number of light signals within a very small space.

Prof. Dr. Jürg Leuthold
Head of the Institute of Electromagnetic Fields (IEF), ETH Zurich