Bionic Vision AustraliaAnnual Report 2011

Goal and aims....................................................................................................2Chairman’s Report.............................................................................................3Director’s Report................................................................................................6Governance.....................................................................................................10Highlights 2011................................................................................................14Education.........................................................................................................15Research Report..............................................................................................19Visitors, events and communication................................................................24Commercialisation...........................................................................................27Financial Report...............................................................................................29Staff and Students...........................................................................................30Publications Listing..........................................................................................44Inside the bionic eye........................................................................................62

Our global goalTo rapidly develop internationally competitive retinal implants and technologies that are shown to be clinically safe and effective in restoring sight, leading to successful commercialisation.

Our aims 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.

Bionic Vision Australia is a national consortium of researchers from the Bionics Institute (BI), the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA), NICTA, the University of Melbourne (UoM) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Supporting participants include the National Vision Research Institute (NVRI), the University of Western Sydney (UWS) and the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (RVEEH).

Chairman’s Report

Professor Emeritus David Penington ACChairman, Bionic Vision Australia

Bionic Vision Australia (BVA) was established in 2010 as an unincorporated joint venture comprising our major partner organisations, committed to sharing skills and resources in this exciting endeavour. Our mission is to develop a functional retinal prosthesis, or bionic eye, that can restore a sense of vision to people with blindness due to inherited and degenerative retinal conditions.

The Global Goal of the project, against which we test all our endeavours and progress is:

“To rapidly develop internationally competitive retinal implants and technologies that are shown to be clinically safe and effective in restoring sight, leading to successful commercialisation.”

Having established the joint venture in 2010, we completed the research team in 2011 with recruitment of a diverse group of people with expertise as varied as: ophthalmology, biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, materials science, neuroscience, vision science, psychophysics, wireless integrated-circuit design, and surgical, preclinical and clinical practice. This is a most impressive team all committed to achieving our global goal.

BVA Governing Board

As Chairman, I would like to extend my thanks to all members of the BVA Governing Board for their commitment to our work and considerable expertise, which was drawn upon during the year. We are most fortunate to have such a talented and engaged Board.

Assisting the Governing Board are a Risk and Audit Committee, chaired by Mr Peter Nankivell and a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), chaired by Distinguished Professor Brian Anderson. I would like to thank all members of both of these groups for their valuable input and guidance to our work during 2011. A newly appointed member of the SAB, Professor Mark Blumenkranz, added important clinical expertise to the group and we welcomed his visit in October 2011.

The Governing Board and research leaders welcomed an important report from the SAB following its visit to each of our groups in March 2011. The report was

perceptive and valuable in guiding a significant redirection of elements of our project.

Supporting Participants

In July, one of our Chief Investigators, Professor Michael Ibbotson, was appointed as Director of the National Vision Research Institute (NVRI) in the Australian College of Optometry. This appointment resulted in Professor Ibbotson and his team relocating to Melbourne and leaving the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra. Consequently, the ANU has resigned as a supporting participant of the project and the NVRI has joined.

In preparation for our first set of patient tests, we have been working closely with the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (RVEEH) and I look forward to welcoming the hospital formally as a supporting participant early in 2012.

Project Management

All technical advances must be rigorously assessed for safety and regulatory compliance to ensure the best outcomes for patients. Our project is no different and the evaluation and management of technical and scientific risk is becoming a further field of priority. This has been an important focus of the Executive team and the Risk and Audit Committee throughout the year. Efforts to mitigate these risks will continue throughout 2012.

Management of intellectual property was enhanced during the year, with the appointment of an IP Manager from Phillips Ormond Fitzpatrick. The patent portfolio grew substantially, which is a testament to the talent and efforts of our research team. The progress made in 2011 has set a strong foundation for transfer into commercialisation activities in due course. I would like to extend my thanks to the members of the IP Advisory Group, chaired by Professor Peter Blamey of the Bionics Institute (BI), who have done a fine job in this area.

Discussions and liaison with the Monash Vision Group, also funded through the Australian Research Council’s Special Research Initiative in Bionic Vision Science and Technology, resulted in joint collaborative meetings and planning of community outreach activities. I look forward to developing this collaboration further in 2012.

Our Researchers

In 2011 we reviewed our scientific leadership to broaden its scope and include clinical expertise. BVA’s Director, Professor Anthony Burkitt now heads a scientific leadership group that includes Professor Nigel Lovell from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and Professor Robyn Guymer from the

Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA). This group is supported by Associate Professor Gregg Suaning (UNSW), Professor Rob Shepherd (BI), Dr Hamish Meffin (NICTA) and Dr Penny Allen (CERA), who make up the Research Management Committee. They, along with other Chief and Partner Investigators of the project, have made major progress in their technical and clinical research – more detail is provided in the Research Report on page 14.

Looking Ahead

The provisional Board of Bionic Vision Technologies Pty Ltd, chaired by Dr Colin Sutton, will liaise closely with our Executive team and IP Manager to monitor the changes outlined above and to ensure that the objective of preparation for development and commercialisation of retinal implants is kept at the forefront of our research effort.

We have set some ambitious targets for 2012 and will continue to keep the community informed about our progress. I look forward to witnessing many exciting developments by our researchers and clinicians as they work towards the first patient tests in 2013.

Prior to his appointment to Chairman of Bionic Vision Australia in 2009, Professor Penington held the positions of Professor of Medicine, Dean and Vice Chancellor at the University of Melbourne.

Professor Penington Chaired Bio21 Australia Ltd from 2002 to 2009 as well as Neurosciences Victoria from 2002 to 2005. Previously, Professor Penington was chair of Cerylid Ltd, Cochlear Ltd and the CRC for Cellular Growth Factors. Prior to this he was Director of Pacific Dunlop Ltd. He has been a member of Foursight Associates Pty Ltd since 1996.

Director’s Report

Professor Anthony N. BurkittDirector, Bionic Vision Australia

I am pleased to present the 2011 Annual Report for BVA. This was very much the year of the microchip, with our electronics engineers making remarkable progress in developing microchips for both our Wide-View and High-Acuity implants.

2011 Milestones Achieved

This was a busy year for all involved, but I am pleased that we have achieved all our planned milestones, including:

completing sub-component bio-stability testing of electrode array materials for the Wide-View device;

completing design and testing of the implanted microchip for the Wide-View device;

completing development of the electrode array, chip scale hermetic encapsulation and other implantable components for the Wide-View device;

establishing the use of polycrystalline diamond as a stimulating interface for electrodes; and

completing structure and function studies of the eye affected by retinitis pigmentosa. This work will help our clinicians establish the selection protocols for our first patients and beyond.

Scientific Advisory Board

In March, we welcomed our SAB into each of our laboratories. I am most grateful to everyone involved in the project for their work ensuring this was a productive visit. The SAB provided a number of positive comments about our progress and the energy from our team, as well as a number of recommendations to help focus the development. Specifically, this was to define one single global goal for the project and enhance the role of the clinical team to ensure patient needs are always at the forefront of our design efforts. I am grateful to Professor Robyn Guymer and Professor Nigel Lovell for their support throughout the year and for stepping into these enhanced leadership roles, as well as all the members of the

Research Management Committee. I also congratulate Dr Penny Allen and Dr Hamish Meffin on their new roles as program leaders for the Surgical Program and High-Acuity Program respectively.

International Environment

As with any field of endeavour, it’s impossible for any one group of researchers to have all the answers. There are several groups across the world working on delivering bionic vision devices and the progress being made internationally and here in Australia is truly remarkable. It is an indication that this technology has really reached a level of maturity that will enable it to produce functional benefits in people’s lives very soon.

In response to this international environment, we have done all we can to accelerate our work to reach our goal of delivering a safe and functional implant as soon as possible. I am pleased with the progress our team has made in the last year, meeting all our key milestones and integrating our activities across a number of very different research areas.

What sets BVA and our technology apart is the group of people we have assembled to work on this project and the range of expertise they provide. From ophthalmology and biomedical engineering to materials and vision science, we have selected Australia’s best researchers to achieve our mission of delivering a bionic eye that is capable of restoring the sense of vision to people with profound blindness.

In many ways, 2011 was also a year of celebrating Australia’s rich history in the field of medical bionics. Thanks to the developments of the heart pacemaker and the cochlear implant, we now have a strong community of experts in the field of bionics and implantable medical devices, who have the experience and expertise required to bring about the next generation of medical bionic technologies.

I congratulate Professor Rob Shepherd and his team at the newly named Bionics Institute (formerly the Bionic Ear Institute) on embracing this new direction, focusing on research in bionic hearing, vision and neurobionics. Similarly, the University of Melbourne (UoM) has established a new Centre for Neural Engineering, led by Professor Stan Skafidas, to address the challenges of these new and exciting fields.

Further, the UNSW has invested 2.5 million dollars to renovate laboratories in the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, incorporating a clean room and updating equipment. This is a huge boost to the fabrication capacities at UNSW and to the whole team working on the bionic eye project.

Similarly, the RVEEH has provided new laboratory and patient consultation space to CERA, dedicated to the team working on the bionic eye project.

BVA was a proud sponsor of the 2011 Graeme Clark Oration, recognising an internationally acclaimed innovator and leader in the field of medical bionics, Professor Graeme Clark, and celebrating his lifetime of achievement. Further, in 2012 BVA is also a sponsor of the ICT for Life Sciences Forum, hosted by NICTA, a community of researchers and industry representatives dedicated to furthering research and technology at the exciting and rapidly expanding interface between engineering and biology.

Looking ahead

In 2012, our focus will be to finalise preparations for the first set of patient tests with the Wide-View device in 2013 and to progress the development of our High-Acuity device. Our key objectives will be to:

successfully develop electrical stimulation algorithms for both the Wide-View and High-Acuity implants;

finalise electrode array and implant designs for the Wide-View device;

finalise preclinical testing of the Wide-View device in preparation for patient tests in 2013;

develop protocols for assessment of patient suitability and assessment of functional vision in daily life;

successfully test external vision processing hardware and power and data transmission hardware for communication with implanted components;

complete subcomponent bio-stability testing of diamond electrode array materials for the High-Acuity device; and

continue development of a flexible system (including stimulator, safety protocols, eye and head movement tracking) to be used for human psychophysics testing and procedures.

Regulatory compliance is critical when taking a development from research to clinical and commercial application. In 2011, we met with the US Food and Drug Administration to ensure our work is on track. Further, we plan to meet with the Therapeutic Goods Administration in 2012. We have some expertise in house and we are engaging external consultants as needed to work on this important aspect of the project.

I would like to thank, once again, all of our researchers, students and staff who have worked tirelessly during 2011 to deliver outstanding results. I feel privileged to lead such a remarkable group of people and look forward to delivering functional benefits to the vision impaired members of our community.

Professor Anthony Burkitt holds the Chair in Bio-Signals and Bio-Systems in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Melbourne.

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

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

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

Professor Emeritus David Penington AC – Chairman

Professor Hugh Taylor AC, MD, FRANZCO – Harold Mitchell Chair of Indigenous Eye Health, Melbourne School of Population Health

Dr Colin Sutton – Director, New South Innovations Pty Ltd

Mr Peter Nankivell – Director, Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA) and Partner, Herbert Geer Lawyers

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

Associate Professor Laurent Rivory – Director, Research Strategy Office, University of New South Wales

Professor Rob J. Evans – Research Group Leader, Control and Signal Processing Victoria Research Laboratory, NICTA

Ms Christina Hardy – Non-Executive Director, Bionics Institute and Director of Business Development and Legal Affairs, Garvan Institute of Medical Research

Alternate Directors who attended meetings of the Governing Board in 2011 are: Dr Charlie Day (alternate for Professor Iven Mareels), Professor Margaret Harding (alternate for Associate Professor Laurent Rivory) and Dr Jia-Yee Lee (alternate for Professor Rob Evans).

Ms Julie Anne Quinn, General Manager for BVA is Secretary to the Board.

Scientific Advisory Board

The SAB was established in 2010 to advise the BVA Governing Board on scientific strategy, international standing, research quality and proposed commercialisation pathways.

In March 2011, we were pleased to welcome members of the SAB to Australia for what will now be an annual visit to monitor the progress of our project. The group met with researchers, students and staff from our Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney labs, making many positive remarks about the collaborative nature of our work.

Later in the year we welcomed Professor Mark Blumenkranz of Stanford University to the SAB. Professor Blumenkranz brings important clinical expertise to this group and visited Australia in October 2011 for initial meetings with senior researchers.

The SAB provided a number of recommendations on research strategy and governance to the BVA Governing Board, to which we have since responded. We appreciate the time and effort this group of experts has dedicated to BVA and look forward to hosting the group again in 2012.

Professor Nigel LovellConvener, SAB

Members of the Scientific Advisory Board

Professor Brian Anderson (Chair)

Research School of Information Sciences and Engineering, The Australian National University

Professor Anderson is a Distinguished Professor of Engineering and Computer Science at the Australian National University (ANU). He was the inaugural CEO of NICTA and the Chief Scientist at the organisation from 2003-2006.

Professor Anderson has served as a member of a number of government bodies, including the Australian Science and Technology Council and the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council. He was previously a member of the Board of Cochlear Limited.

He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Australia. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1993.

Professor Dominique Durand

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

Professor Durand is the E.L. Linsedth Professor of Biomedical Engineering Neurosciences, Physiology and Biophysics and Director of the Neural Engineering Center at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Professor Durand has obtained funding for his research from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and private foundations. He is an IEEE Fellow; Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biomedical Engineering and Fellow of the Institute of Physics.

Having published over 100 articles and consulted for many biotechnology companies and foundations, Professor Durand also serves on five editorial boards of peer-reviewed scientific journals. He is the editor-in-chief and founding editor of the Journal of Neural Engineering.

Professor Nigel Lovell (Convenor)

Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, University of New South Wales

Professor Nigel Lovell is a Scientia Professor at the UNSW Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, working in the areas of bionics, biomonitoring and physiological modelling.

His principal research interests have been focused in the application of appropriate technology in primary health care and design of a bionic eye. He has published 450+ journal articles, books, chapters, patents, refereed proceedings and abstracts. He is a board member of the journal ‘Physiological Measurement’, a founding board member of the ‘Journal of Neural Engineering’ and an Associate Editor of ‘Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine’.

He is currently Vice President for Conferences for the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) which is the world’s largest member-based biomedical engineering professional organisation.

Professor Dr Thomas Stieglitz

IMTEK – Institut für Mikrosystemtechnik, University of Freiburg, Germany

Professor Dr Stieglitz is a full professor for Biomedical Microtechnology in the Institute for Microsystem Technology (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg (Germany).

In 2000 he received the science award of the Saarland State for his work on flexible, neural prostheses. Professor Dr Stieglitz qualified as a university lecturer in 2002 at the Saarland University in biomedical microsystem technology.

Professor Dr Stieglitz worked with the Fraunhofer-Institute for Biomedical Engineering (IBMT) from 1993 to 2004, where he established the research work

on biomedical microsystems for neural prostheses, which finally led to the IBMT Neural Prostheses Group.

Professor Dr Stieglitz is a member of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS), the German Engineering Society (VDI) and the German Society for Biomedical Engineering (DGBMT) within the German Electrotechnical Society (VDE) where he is chair of the Functional Stimulation Section. He is also the founding member of the International Society for Functional Electrical Stimulation (IFESS).

Professor Mark Blumenkranz MD

Professor and Chairman, Stanford University School of Medicine – Ophthalmology

Professor Mark Blumenkranz is a Professor of Ophthalmology and Chairman at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is a practising clinician in the USA at the Stanford Hospital and Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital.

Professor Blumenkranz has been on the Board of Directors for a variety of voluntary education and service organisations, including the Corporation of Brown University, multiple scientific advisory boards and various philanthropic and research organisations.

Risk and Audit Committee

The Risk and Audit Committee is comprised of: Mr Peter Nankivell (Chair), Ms Christina Hardy and Professor Rob Evans. The Risk and Audit Committee serves as a subcommittee of the Governing Board for the general oversight of BVA affairs in the areas of financial accounting and reporting, risk management and the underlying internal control environment for the BVA.

Leadership Group

In 2011, a research leadership group was established to enhance the integration across BVA’s research activities. Consequently, Professor Robyn Guymer, who provides clinical expertise, and Professor Nigel Lovell, who interfaces activities in Sydney and Canberra, now support the BVA Director in the leadership and management of the project. The Leadership Group meets regularly to review project progress.

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 monthly to ensure research milestones and objectives are met. Members of the RMC are: Dr Penny Allen, Professor Robyn Guymer, Professor Nigel Lovell, Dr Hamish Meffin, Professor Rob Shepherd and Associate Professor Gregg Suaning.

Highlights 2011Dr Socrates Dokos (Stimulation Strategy Program, UNSW) was promoted to the level of Chief Investigator on the BVA project.

Professor Rob Evans and Professor Hugh Taylor (BVA Board Members) were each awarded a Melbourne Laureate Professorship in recognition of their significant contributions to electronic engineering and ophthalmology respectively.

Associate Professor Erica Fletcher (Preclinical Program, UoM) was promoted to the level of Chief Investigator on the BVA project.

Professor Michael Ibbotson (Preclinical Program, NVRI) commenced his new role as Director of the National Vision Research Institute, bringing his team of 11 researchers to Melbourne to establish a new laboratory.

Mr Sam John (Preclinical Program, BI) was awarded the Harold Mitchell Postgraduate Student Travelling Fellowship to attend the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Dr Torsten Lehmann (Stimulation Strategy Program, UNSW) was promoted to the level of Chief Investigator on the BVA project.

Professor Nigel Lovell (Stimulation Strategy Program, UNSW) played a major role at this year’s Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference as Editor in Chief of the Conference Editorial Board and was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.

Dr Hamish Meffin (High-Acuity Program, NICTA) was promoted to Program Leader and Partner Investigator in the BVA project.

Dr David Ng (High-Acuity Program, NICTA) was awarded two finalist prizes in the Engineers Australia Annual Awards for his wireless power work.

Professor Rob Shepherd (Preclinical Program, BI) and his team at the Bionics Institute hosted the 2nd International Conference on Medical Bionics: Neural Interfaces for Damaged Nerves, 20-23 November 2011, Australia.

Associate Professor Gregg Suaning (Wide-View Program, UNSW) and his team at the University of New South Wales hosted the 3rd International Conference on Neuroprosthetic Devices on November 25-26, 2011.

Dr Nhan Tran (High-Acuity Program, NICTA) was awarded second place in the best student paper competition for the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference 2011, held in Boston, USA.

EducationOne of BVA’s aims is to develop the next generation of medical bionics experts through our programs for PhD students and early career researchers, as well as outreach activities for students and the community.

PhD Student Profiles

Meet Dr Nhan Tran

Nhan is a member of the High-Acuity Device Development team at the UoM/NICTA and completed his thesis titled ‘A highly flexible stimulator towards a High-Acuity retinal prosthesis implemented in 65 nm CMOS process’ in 2011.

Nhan presented his paper on the prototype 64-electrode retinal stimulator and won second prize at the 33rd International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.

Meet Mr Amgad Habib

Amgad is a PhD student in the Stimulation Strategy program at both UNSW and the University of Western Sydney (UWS).

He is working on assessing the spatial activation profile of the retina under electrical stimulation by using both calcium imaging and patch clamping techniques. The results from his research will help inform the development of effective stimulation of the retina.

Completions in 2011

Ms Megan Abramian (UNSW) ‘Investigation of retinal ganglion cell activation following epiretinal electrical stimulation with hexagonally-arranged bipolar electrodes’. Supervised by Professor Nigel Lovell.

Mr Shun Leo Bai (UoM/NICTA) ‘Theory and Design of Wireless Power Supply for Retinal Prosthesis’. Supervised by Professor Stan Skafidas, Professor Iven Mareels and Dr David Ng.

Dr Nhan Tran (UoM/NICTA) ‘A highly flexible stimulator for a High-Acuity retinal prosthesis implemented in 65 nm CMOS process’. Supervised by Professor Stan Skafidas and Professor Iven Mareels.

Mr David Tsai (UNSW) ‘Elicitation of retinal neural circuitry with vision prosthetic devices’. Supervised by Professor Nigel Lovell and Professor John Morley.

Mr Jiawei (Jeff) Yang (UoM/NICTA) ‘A Super Low Power MICS Band Receiver on 65 nm CMOS for High Resolution Retinal Prosthesis’. Supervised by Professor Iven Mareels and Professor Stan Skafidas.

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program

In 2011, two UoM students participated in The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP). UROP is a paid employment scheme designed to give undergraduate students an early opportunity to experience real life in a research setting.

Mr Tian Sang worked with Dr Tatiana Kamaneva to build an integrate-and-fire model of the retina and its response to electrical stimulation.

Mr Misha Wakerman is working with Dr Craig Savage on the implications of including (or neglecting) eye tracking. Together they looked at the fidelity of head movements in lieu of eye movements, as well as psychophysical ramifications.

“I’m about half way through my computer science degree, so I’ve had no biology experience before. Coming into a project like this really expands your horizons, but I’ve enjoyed what I’ve learnt and found the process really interesting.”

“One of the things I’ve enjoyed most is going through the research process as you get very little experience of this in an undergraduate degree. So for example, going through planning your work and then revising your approach as challenges arise; the opportunity to gain this experience at an early stage in my career is invaluable.”

Mr Ronald Leung commenced his work at the BI as a UROP student and is now in his second year of a PhD (at the BI and the UoM). He is a member of the preclinical team and is working on the implantation and removal of the Wide-View bionic eye.

Secondary School and University Student Outreach

Throughout 2011, BVA staff and students gave a number of presentations to high school and university students. This enabled BVA researchers to engage with a range of audiences and provided an opportunity to promote the sciences to a younger audience. Some of the highlights included:

Ms Samantha Lichter from the Melbourne Materials Institute (MMI) gave a talk as part of the Melbourne Graduate School of Education Summer School Program. Sam spoke about her work with diamond materials for the bionic eye.

Dr David Nayagam (BI) presented updates on the bionic eye project to students at ‘Space School’ for Victorian high school students, hosted by the Victorian Space Science Education Centre, and at the national Aerospace Futures 2011 Conference.

Dr Lauren Ayton and Mr Nicholas Opie (CERA) hosted two small school tours of the clinical facilities at CERA.

BI PhD students Mr Sam John and Mr Ronald Leung presented an overview of bionic eye research to a group of high school students as part of the ‘Bringing Science to Life’ program organised by the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

Project Manager Ms Tamara Brawn spoke about the project and her work at the Victorian Schools Science Talent Search Awards.

PhD and early career researcher training program

At the 2011 Research Retreat in Canberra, PhD students attended a media training session to provide them with an understanding of the media’s role in scientific research. Students had the opportunity to participate in mock interviews and role plays and gained an appreciation of what it is like to speak about their work with journalists. Thank you to BVA Communications Manager, Ms Veronika Gouskova and Ms Leanne O’Rourkes and Mr Martyn Pearce (ANU) for delivering the session.

Also at the Research Retreat, PhD students attended a session on Intellectual Property, and laboratory notebook policies and guidelines led by BVA Project Manager, Ms Tamara Brawn.

In November BVA hosted a workshop at the Bionic Institute’s 2nd International Medical Bionics Conference. This interactive workshop – Building Networks for Success: A Career Development Workshop, was accessible for all PhD Students and Early Career Researchers at the conference. This workshop was facilitated by Dr Stella Clark. More career development activities for PhD students and Early Career Researchers are planned for 2012.

International Research Fellowship

Mr Nicholas Apollo is a Fulbright Postgraduate Scholar from the University of Pittsburgh who is working with the Clinical team at CERA to develop a better method of analysing retinal function in patients with advanced retinal degeneration.

The Fulbright Program is one of the largest and most prestigious educational exchange programs in the world. The Australian-American Fulbright Commission

is one of over 50 Fulbright Commissions in the world who work with the United States Department of State to facilitate the Fulbright Program between the United States and over 155 countries worldwide.

“It is my hope that I will gain valuable ideas and experiences in Australia, both of which will be directly applicable to my future career as an innovative medical practitioner and engineer. Additionally, I am eager to exchange ideas and interact directly with vision impaired patients, research scientists, and engineers in Australia to work toward improving the safety, quality of life, and overall well-being of the blind members of society.”

Research ReportIn 2011, the leadership team and governing board consolidated our working and reporting structure into two principal programs, the Wide-View Program and the High-Acuity Program, to better respond to the inherent challenges of our global goal. This streamlined structure allows researchers to better integrate efforts across BVA activities in Device Development, Stimulation Strategy, Preclinical, Clinical and Surgical Programs.

The team has made remarkable progress throughout 2011.

Wide-View Principal Program

The Wide-View retinal implant builds upon technologies that have been successfully employed in cochlear implants and it uses materials whose biocompatibility and biostability have been established and have received regulatory approval in other implanted devices. The suprachoroidal 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. The Wide-View device will incorporate a microchip with 98 stimulating electrodes and aims to provide increased mobility for patients to assist them in safely moving around their environment.

Surgeons and engineers have continued to refine the shape and mechanical characteristics of the retinal implant for the Wide-View device throughout 2011. This involves optimising the shape, size, thickness and flexibility of the implant, as well as establishing the most appropriate way of aligning the implantable components with the structure of the eye.

The surgical team at CERA and the RVEEH has developed the necessary tools and techniques to safely implant the Wide-View device. During this process they have been providing feedback to UNSW engineers regarding the mechanical handling of the device. This progress has allowed the team to move into testing the electrical efficacy and safety at the BI and UNSW, evaluating both the performance of the device and relevant stimulation strategies to make sure the best patient outcomes can be achieved. The preclinical team at the BI has optimised testing protocols for the suprachoroidal implantation of the electrode array. This includes testing for mechanical stability and biocompatability.

The stimulation strategy teams from UNSW, UWS, NVRI and UoM, with the preclinical team from BI, have commenced experiments to record neural responses and spike trains during single electrode and multi-focal stimulation. Researchers have been using in vitro and in vivo data to create models of the retina and the retina/visual cortex connection. This increased understanding of the visual system informs the development and optimisation of stimulation

strategies. These patterns of stimulation are then tested using computer modelling, and validated through further in vitro and in vivo testing. Continuing testing is ongoing to ensure the safety of electrical stimulation strategies.

In March, device development engineers at UNSW completed the fabrication of the microchip that will be implanted into the eye to drive the Wide-View electrode array. This microchip has been successfully bench tested and represents a big step forward in the progress of implant technology. It affords researchers the possibility to stimulate multiple sites simultaneously and gain advantage from BVA’s hexagonal stimulation strategy methods. Consequently, microelectronics engineers have now moved on to designing the microchip for the behind-the-ear-unit, integrating a novel two-wire interface system for providing both power and data to the stimulator. The team is now investigating ways that the design of this behind-the-ear microchip can be used with both the Wide-View and High-Acuity implants, supporting common external components across both devices.

High-Acuity Principal Program

The High-Acuity retinal implant incorporates a number of exciting and new technologies, such as polycrystalline diamond material capable of providing electrical stimulation to the retina. The High-Acuity device aims to provide functional central vision to the user, to assist with tasks such as face-recognition and reading large print. The device will incorporate an electrode array with up to 1024 stimulating electrodes.

Microelectronics engineers at NICTA’s Victorian Research Laboratory and UoM have developed the first generation microchip to test features of the stimulation circuitry as well as a data and power transfer system for the High-Acuity retinal implant. This microchip was sent for fabrication at IBM and researchers have since successfully completed bench tests, using an electronics probe station and printed circuit board testing. The team is now developing a version of the microchip that integrates all required components to drive up to 1000 electrodes for the High-Acuity retinal implant.

Researchers and surgeons continue to work through the iterative process of fine-tuning the design of the High-Acuity device to ensure it can be safely implanted. A large part of this process is developing an appropriate surgical technique and method for securing the electrode array in place for the long term.

The design of the electrode array also involves optimising the electrode shape using diamond materials and evaluating the effectiveness of penetrating versus flat electrodes. Researchers at NVRI have developed sophisticated techniques which enable them to assess the ability of penetrating and surface electrodes to elicit responses in retinal tissue samples. This work is contributing to our understanding of optimal electrode design for different implant locations within the eye and the most effective means of stimulating retinal cells. In addition,

researchers at the BI have refined techniques to test the safety and efficacy of device components.

In 2011, the team at MMI established that diamond can be used as a stimulating interface for electrodes. Further, researchers have fabricated BVA’s first electrode array with electrically isolated electrodes. Isolation is an important development because it enables individual control of each electrode (as opposed to a group of electrodes acting together). This is required to reduce the “pixel” size to a level necessary to increase the quality of vision that patients will experience. The preclinical team at the BI has commenced long-term electrical stimulation of the electrode array in bench top testing in saline to assess the stability of the electrode array material.

The High-Acuity team has also developed a promising technique to fabricate and place hermetic feed-throughs; connections between the electrode array and the microchip. Further testing is required to confirm the hermeticity of the feedthrough. To ensure the implant is safely sealed, materials scientists have optimised laser milling of diamond material to make a box that will encapsulate the device, keeping the delicate electronics safe from the body and the body safe from the electronics.

Research Common to both Principal Programs

To support the two principal programs, the vision that patients may experience with various stimulation strategies is being tested using computer models, simulations of the retina and its response to electrical activation. This approach has given researchers at the Universities of Melbourne and New South Wales insights into how electrical stimulation excites neurons in the retina. In turn this is aiding the development of computer algorithms that convert images into patterns of electrical stimulation of the retina.

The team at NICTA’s Canberra Research Laboratory (CRL) has implemented a series of vision processing and stimulation strategies on a head-mounted display to test and optimise what features will be most useful for bionic eye recipients. These include orientation and mobility methods for emphasising trip hazards and overhanging obstacles, which are difficult to see in conventional retinal implant vision processing approaches, as well as methods for viewing faces with the High-Acuity device. This ability to test the type of images recipients are likely to experience with sighted volunteers ahead of clinical testing is being used by both principal programs. These simulated prosthetic vision trials have demonstrated the benefits of the methods in a controlled indoor mobility course. The aim is to understand how eye and head movements affect the brain’s ability to interpret retinal activity.

At the heart of all the engineering, design, safety and efficacy testing, is the need to develop retinal implants that will be useful in clinical practice. The preclinical team at the BI, and the clinical and surgical teams at CERA have been

instrumental in providing feedback into the iterative design process loop. Experimental surgery and an optical coherence tomography (OCT) study of the retinal contour profile in patients with retinitis pigmentosa have been conducted to facilitate the electrode design. Researchers at CERA are also continuing to develop protocols for selection and assessment of the first device recipients.

Throughout 2011, clinicians continued recruiting people with vision impairment to be involved in studies about the structure and function of the retina in retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. Recruitment is mostly done through retinal degeneration patient support groups and eye care practitioner referrals. Participants with retinitis pigmentosa have been assessed by the clinicial team at CERA to determine residual function, retinal structure and current levels of vision related activities. From these studies, protocols for assessment of potential implant recipients have been developed. Furthermore, in consultation with psychologists and orientation and movement trainers, the clinical team has been researching and collating the factors that are likely to contribute to the best functional outcome for future recipients.

The psychophysics team at the BI are developing a flexible system and protocols for psychophysical testing of implanted patients.

Finally, design engineers are working to develop external components and hardware to capture and process images that will be applicable to both the Wide-View and High-Acuity devices. Researchers are in the initial stages of consulting with members of the vision impaired community to obtain feedback on early designs and will continue optimising the external components with patients and clinicians.

Research Common to both Principal Programs

To support the two principal programs, the vision that patients may experience with various stimulation strategies is being tested using computer models, simulations of the retina and its response to electrical activation. This approach has given researchers at the Universities of Melbourne and New South Wales insights into how electrical stimulation excites neurons in the retina. In turn this is aiding the development of computer algorithms that convert images into patterns of electrical stimulation of the retina.

The team at NICTA’s Canberra Research Laboratory (CRL) has implemented a series of vision processing and stimulation strategies on a head-mounted display to test and optimise what features will be most useful for bionic eye recipients. These include orientation and mobility methods for emphasising trip hazards and overhanging obstacles, which are difficult to see in conventional retinal implant vision processing approaches, as well as methods for viewing faces with the High-Acuity device. This ability to test the type of images recipients are likely to experience with sighted volunteers ahead of clinical testing is being used by both principal programs. These simulated prosthetic vision trials have demonstrated

the benefits of the methods in a controlled indoor mobility course. The aim is to understand how eye and head movements affect the brain’s ability to interpret retinal activity.

At the heart of all the engineering, design, safety and efficacy testing, is the need to develop retinal implants that will be useful in clinical practice. The preclinical team at the BI, and the clinical and surgical teams at CERA have been instrumental in providing feedback into the iterative design process loop. Experimental surgery and an optical coherence tomography (OCT) study of the retinal contour profile in patients with retinitis pigmentosa have been conducted to facilitate the electrode design. Researchers at CERA are also continuing to develop protocols for selection and assessment of the first device recipients.

Throughout 2011, clinicians continued recruiting people with vision impairment to be involved in studies about the structure and function of the retina in retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. Recruitment is mostly done through retinal degeneration patient support groups and eye care practitioner referrals. Participants with retinitis pigmentosa have been assessed by the clinicial team at CERA to determine residual function, retinal structure and current levels of vision related activities. From these studies, protocols for assessment of potential implant recipients have been developed. Furthermore, in consultation with psychologists and orientation and movement trainers, the clinical team has been researching and collating the factors that are likely to contribute to the best functional outcome for future recipients.

The psychophysics team at the BI are developing a flexible system and protocols for psychophysical testing of implanted patients.

Finally, design engineers are working to develop external components and hardware to capture and process images that will be applicable to both the Wide-View and High-Acuity devices. Researchers are in the initial stages of consulting with members of the vision impaired community to obtain feedback on early designs and will continue optimising the external components with patients and clinicians.

Visitors, events and communication

Research Retreat

In June researchers came together for an annual scientific planning retreat, held at the Rydges Hotel on Capital Hill, Canberra. This was a rare opportunity for the whole team of BVA researchers and students to come together for a few days of important discussions and planning workshops.

Discussion Rounds: Monash Vision Group

BVA and Monash Vision Group met throughout the year (May, July, September and December) to discuss common challenges and identify opportunities for collaboration and information sharing. The meetings canvassed issues of regulation for medical devices; psychophysics, orientation and mobility methods for patient testing; training and professional development for students and early career researchers; and outreach activities for the vision impaired community. Several resulting initiatives will be implemented in 2012.

Research Showcases in Sydney and Melbourne

To celebrate our achievements in 2011, BVA hosted research showcase events in Sydney and Melbourne. This was an opportunity to bring together key stakeholders and supporters of the project and to provide an update on research progress. Those attending also had the opportunity to have a hands-on experience with elements of the technology in development, with researchers displaying microchips, implant prototypes, bionic vision simulations and eye tracking demonstrations. BVA was pleased to welcome Ms Joan Smith (Guide Dogs Victoria), Dr Kevin Murfitt (Vision Australia) and Mr Leighton Boyd (Retina Australia) to the Melbourne event as representatives of the vision impaired community. Many thanks to Joan for sharing her experience of retinitis pigmentosa with attendees.

Public Lecture: Professor Dominique Durand, 1 March 2011

Professor Dominique Durand gave a seminar at UNSW on neural interfacing with the peripheral nervous system and spoke about the development of an electrode array capable of selective fascicle stimulation and selective recording.

Public Lecture: Professor Thomas Stieglitz, 3 March 2011

Professor Dr Stieglitz (below) presented a public lecture in Melbourne, sponsored by the ICT for Life Sciences Forum. Professor Dr Stieglitz explained his research in the development of electrode arrays for pre-surgical epilepsy diagnosis and for interfacing with the peripheral nervous system.

Public Lecture: Professor Mark Blumenkranz, 11 and 13 October 2011

Stanford Artificial Vision Project

During his Australian visit in October, Professor Mark Blumenkranz addressed audiences in Sydney (11 October) and Melbourne (13 October) to present his work on the design and initial preclinical testing of a photovoltaic retinal prosthesis fabricated with pixel density as high as 256 pixels/mm. The Sydney lecture was hosted by the UNSW. In Melbourne, the event was presented as part of World Sight Day (13 October) in conjunction with the CERA and RVEEH.

2nd International Conference on Medical Bionics

BVA was a proud sponsor of the 2nd International Conference on Medical Bionics: Neural Interfaces for Damaged Nerves, held on Philip Island, 20-23 November 2011. Professor Rob Shepherd and his team at the BI are to be congratulated for an outstanding conference. The event attracted a large number of international visitors including BVA Sponsored key note speaker, renowned retinal surgeon Dr Helmut Sachs, as well as a career development workshop for PhD students and early career researchers.

3rd International Conference on Neuroprosthetic Devices

Also in November 2011, Associate Professor Gregg Suaning and his team at UNSW hosted the 3rd International Conference on Neuroprosthetic Devices in Sydney. Once again, BVA was a proud sponsor, supporting Dr Ethan Cohen from the United States Food and Drug Administration, who presented a keynote address titled: Safety of retinal stimulation: development of novel methods for imaging overstimulation of neural tissue in real time.

Associate Professor Gregg Suaning and his team are to be commended for a well-attended and informative conference.

Media coverage

Throughout the year, more than 60 media mentions appeared in national and international media channels, including print, TV and radio. Further, there were approximately 60 online blog mentions about the project. BVA researchers and students continue to be approached by the media for interviews and comment as the project progresses. Notable highlights included ABC’s Catalyst segment about the project, showcasing the indoor mobility course at NICTA’s Canberra Laboratory, as well as Channel 10’s Saturday morning children’s science show, SCOPE running a piece about diamond materials for the bionic eye.

BVA continues to receive queries about the project via the website contact form. In 2011, BVA received 172 queries through the website regarding patient tests, internships and media requests.

Events for the vision impaired community

Throughout the year, BVA participated in a number of events designed to inform members of the vision impaired community about the project’s progress. These events also enabled researchers and staff to respond to queries about participating in patient tests.

BVA jointly attended Vision Australia’s Melbourne and Sydney Texpo events in September with the Monash Vision Group. The community responded very well to having both groups exhibiting together and showcasing the complementary research and design approaches.

Clinical research coordinator Dr Lauren Ayton (CERA) also spoke at a number of events organised by and for the vision impaired community including Vision Australia’s Round Table on Information Access (22 May), the Blind Citizens of Australia National Convention (15 October), Retina Australia AGM (22 October), IT Enables Symposium at the State Library (25 November) and the Guide Dogs Victoria AGM (7 December).

CommercialisationBionic Vision Technologies (BVT) Pty Ltd (ACN 124 162 634) (BVT) has been established to commercialise the technology developed by BVA. As the BVA project moves from the research phase to development and commercialisation, the company is playing an important role in providing commercial direction to our plans to bring a retinal implant to the market.

Report from Chair of BVT

The BVT Board’s focus in 2011 was to consider the current status of the BVA project from the perspective of its IP position and the projected commercialisation pathway. The Board sees 2012 as a key turning point for the company during which the company will need to increase its level of activity and internal capabilities to rise to the challenge of successfully taking BVA-developed technology to market.

The company has recognised, in consultation with the BVA Director, that there is a need to provide greater commercial direction to the BVA IP management process. BVA’s IP Manager, Dr Ross McFarlane from the firm Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick is providing important IP support in this area.

Further, BVA engaged the services of Waterfall Commercialisation to help us identify areas of risk across the project and gaps in our commercialisation activities. BVT has begun the process of recruiting its first employee who will lead the company during the next period of its development.

Dr Colin Sutton, BVT Chair

Intellectual Property

The BVA consortium is actively developing a portfolio of leading edge intellectual property, protected as appropriate by mechanisms such as patents and trade secrets. During the year we filed a number of new provisional patent applications, and continued to refine and prosecute the more mature patents in our portfolio. We have implemented clear processes for identifying and capturing new intellectual property as it arises, and work closely with professional advisers to ensure sound portfolio management practices.

IP Advisory Group

The Intellectual Property Advisory Group (IPAG) is responsible for making recommendations to the Director on aspects of intellectual property relevant to

the activities and interests of BVA. This includes recommendations to the Director regarding the extent to which BVA should support parties to the Joint Venture Agreement in pursing patent protection for Initiative IP, overseeing the portfolio of patents and patent applications owned by the parties which is able to be licensed to BVT, and monitoring patent rights maintained by third parties. It is planned that BVT will assume responsibility for many of these functions from 2012.

The IP Advisory Group consists of: Professor Peter Blamey (Chair) (BI); Dr Kate Fox (UoM); Mr Peter Lightbody (NICTA); Associate Professor Gregg Suaning (UNSW); and Dr Khay-Lin Teoh (CERA). The group is supported by the IP Manager.

BVT Board 2011

Dr Colin Sutton (Chair) Director, NewSouth Innovations Pty LtdDeputy Chairman, Bionic Vision Australia

Dr Charlie Day Project Director – Carlton Connect, The University of Melbourne

Associate Professor Laurent RivoryDirector, Research Strategy Office, The University of New South Wales

Professor Peter Blamey (until 19 October) Deputy Director (IP and Commercialisation), The Bionics Institute

Julie Anne Quinn (Company Secretary) General Manager, Bionic Vision Australia

Financial ReportIncome Statement for the year ended 31 December 2011

Income

Cash Revenue

Australian Research Council Funding: 10,374,271Total Cash Revenue: 10,374,271

In Kind Contributions

Member Organisations: 11,461,400Partner Organisations: 503,275Total In Kind Contributions: 11,964,675

Total Cash Revenue and In Kind Contributions: 22,338,946

Expenditure

Cash

Research Operations: 9,868,329 (Equipment: Research cash expenditure for 2011 includes equipment expenditure of $2,892,814)Business Operations: 1,213,390Total Cash Expenditure: 11,081,719

In Kind

Research Operations:11,101,108Business Operations: 863,568Total in Kind Expenses: 11,964,675Total Cash and In Kind Expenses: 23,046,3942011 Balance: -707,448Carry Forward Balance from 2010: 9,347,057Balance of Funds to be carried forward: 8,639,609 (Surplus: The surplus is largely a flow on from the later than expected commencement of operations in 2010 and will be carried forward into 2012. Included in the balance carried forward is $1,731,045 set aside to fund Strategic Research Initiatives).

Staff and Students

Bionics Institute

Researchers

Ms Rebecca ArgentBSc (Otago)

Prof Peter BlameyBSc (Hons) (ANU), PhD (Monash)

Mr Owen BurnsBE (Mech) (Wollongong)

Ms Anne Coco BSc (Hons)

Mr Paul Crossley

Dr James FallonBE (Hons), BSc, PhD

Ms Helen Feng

Ms Alexia FreemantleBSc (Hons) (Deakin)

Mr Mark HarrisonBE (PIT), PGradDip (Digital Comp Eng) (RMIT)

Dr Tom Landry (Concluded in April)BSc (Hons), PhD (Melb)

Ms Vanessa MaximBBSc (Latrobe), Adv Dip Eng Tech (NMIT)

Prof Hugh McDermottBAppSc (Hons) (Melb), PhD (Melb)

Ms Ceara McGowanBSc (Hons) (RMIT)

Ms Michelle McPhedranBBSc (La Trobe)

Mr Rodney MillardDipElecE

Dr David NayagamBSc/BE (Hons) (Melb), PhD (Melb)

Prof Peter SeligmanBE, PhD (Monash)

Prof Rob ShepherdBSc, GradDipEd, PhD (Melb)

Dr Mohit ShivdasaniBE (Hons) (Mumbai), ME (La Trobe), PhD (La Trobe)

Mr Nicholas SinclairBE (Hons) (Swinburne), BSc (Swinburne)

Mr Kyle Slater (concluded in December) BE (Hons) (Swinburne), BSc (Swinburne)

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

Dr Jin Xu MD MMed, DipRad, MIR

Students

Ms Rosemary CicioneBE (La Trobe), MBioE (La Trobe)

Ms Melanie GaultBSc (BiomedEng), MSc (BiomedEng) (Vanderbilt, USA)

Mr Sam JohnB Med Elect (VIT, India), MElecE (La Trobe)

Mr Ronald LeungBE (Melb)

Mr Austin MuellerBSc (BioEng) (Lausanne, Switzerland)

Mr Joel VillalobosBE (Elect Sys Eng) (Mexico)

Centre for Eye Research Australia

Researchers

Dr Penny AllenMBBS, FRANZCO

Dr Khin-Zaw Aung MBBS (Burma), Grad Dip Applied Science (Swinburne)

Dr Lauren AytonBOptom (Melb), PhD (Melb), Grad Cert Oc Ther (UNSW)

Ms Elizabeth Bowman (concluded in August)BSc (Hons), MSc

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

Prof Jonathan CrowstonMBBS (London), BSc (London), PhD (UCL), FRANZCP, FRCophth (UK)

Ms Lil DeverellBEd, Grad Dip in Orientation and Mobility

Dr Peter DimitrovMBBS (Ukraine), BOrth (Hons) (La Trobe)

Prof Robyn GuymerMBBS (Melb), PhD (Melb), FRANZCO

Dr Sharon Bentley (Haymes)BOptom (Melb), PhD (Melb)

Prof Jill KeeffeBA (New England), PhD (Melb)

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

Dr Galina MakayevaMBBS, PhD (Odessa)

Dr Mark McCombeMBBS, FRANZCO

Dr Wilson Heriot MBBS, FRANZCO

Mr Nicholas Opie BE (Hons) / BSc (Monash), PhD (Melb)

Ms Mary VarsamidisBSc, BOrth (La Trobe)

Dr Jonathan YeohMBBS, FRANZCO

Students

Mr Felix Aplin (joint supervision with University of Melbourne)BSc (Hons) (ANU)

Mr Nicholas ApolloBS (Pittsburgh)

Dr Rob FingerMD (Cologne), MIH (Curtin)

NICTA

Researchers (CRL)

A/Prof Nick BarnesBSc (Hons) (Melb), PhD (Melb)

Ms Viorica Botea (Concluded in December)BSc (Bucharest), MSc (Alberta)

Mr Hugh DennettBSc (Hons) (ANU)

Dr Xuming HePhD (Toronto)

Ms Junae KimBSc (EWHA), MSc (POSTECH), ME (ANU)

Dr Yi LiPhD (Maryland)

Dr Paulette LiebyPhD (Charles Darwin)

Dr Nianjun LiuPhD (Queensland)

Dr Chris McCarthyPhD (ANU)

Ms Adele ScottBSc (ANU), BE (ANU)

Dr Chunhua ShenPhD (Adelaide)

Mr Ashley StaceyBE CompSys (Canberra), MComp (Hons) (ANU)

Dr Janine WalkerMA, MAPS, PhD (Melb)

Students (CRL) – enrolled at the Australian National University

Mr Khurrum AftabMCompSc (Lahor)

Mr Lachlan HorneBE (Adelaide), BMaCompSc (Adelaide)

Mr Kyoungup ParkMSc (Southern California)

Mr Samunda PereraBSc (Hons) (Moratuwa)

Mr Song WangBEng (Harbin Inst of Tech), MPhil (HKU)

Mr Tao WangBE (South China)

Researchers (VRL)

Mr Clive BoydMSc (Melb)

Dr Mark HalpernPhD (Melb)

Dr Hamish MeffinBSc (Adel) (Hons), PhD (Sydney)

Dr David NgBEng (Singapore), MSc (Singapore), PhD (Nara)

Prof Stan SkafidasBE (Hons) (Melb), BSc (Melb), MESc (Melb), PhD (Melb)

Students (VRL) – enrolled at the University of Melbourne

Ms Leila Koushaeian

Mr Fu Meng BE

University of Melbourne, Anatomy and Cell Biology

Researchers

A/Prof Erica FletcherBScOptom (Melb), MSc, PhD (Melb)

Dr Ursula GreferathBSc (Hons) (Frankfurt), PhD (Frankfurt)

Ms Andrea RassellBBiomedSc (Wellington)

Dr Kirstan VesseyBSc (Hons) (Melb), PhD (Melb)

Students

Ms Susmita SahaBScEng (Dhaka, Bangladesh)

Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering

Researchers

Mr Shun (Leo) Bai BSc

Prof Anthony BurkittBSc (ANU), BSc (ANU), PhD (Edinburgh)

Dr Hosung ChunBE (Sydney), PhD (UNSW)

A/Prof David GraydenBSc (Melb), BE (Melb), PhD (Melb)

Dr Colin HalesBE (Electrical) (Monash), CAS (Brunel), PhD (Melb)

Dr Sam (Yuhua) HeBSc (Nankai), MSc (Nankai)

Dr Tatiana KamenevaBSc (Kazakhstan), MSc (Kazakhstan), PhD (Melb)

Mr Omid Kavahei ME (Iran), PhD (Adelaide)

Mr Vijay MuktamathBE (India), ME (RMIT)

Dr Craig SavageBSc (Northwestern), MSc (Arizona), MBA (Arizona), PhD (Melb)

Dr Bahman TahayoriBE (Shiraz), ME (Tehran), PhD (Melb)

Dr Nhan TranMSc (Kyung Hee)

Mr Jiawei (Jeff) YangBE (Zhejiang)

Mr Yuanyuan Yang BE (China), ME (China)

Students

Ms Isabell Kiral-KornekDipl.-Ing. (Hanover, Germany)

Mr Matias MaturanaBSc (Melb), BA (Melb)

Ms Emily O’BrienBEng (Hons) (Flinders), BSc (Flinders)

Mr Evgeni SergeevBE (Elect&Electr) (Hons), BCM (Hons) (Western Australia)

Mr Nick Venables

Melbourne Materials Institute

Researchers

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

Dr Kumar GanesanBSc (Hons) (Jaffna), MSc (Peradeniya), PhD (Canterbury)

Dr David GarrettBSc (Hons) (Canterbury), PhD (Canterbury)

Prof Steven PrawerBSc (Monash), PhD (Monash), DSc (Melb), FAA

Students

Ms Samantha LichterBEng (Hons)/BSc (Monash)

Mr Ashley Rozario (Intern, from September 2011)Dip Biotech (Singapore)

Ms Ella Slonim (Intern, from September – December 2011)

University of New South Wales, Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering

Researchers

Dr Miganoosh AbramianBSc (Hons) (Azad), MBiomedE (UNSW) (joint position with University of Melbourne)

Mr Stefan AudickDipl. Ing. (Krefeld, Germany)

Mr Brandon BosseBSc (UCSD), MSc (Tübingen)

Mr Kain BozzettoBE (UNSW), ME (UNSW)

Ms Alexandra Boulgakov

Mr Philip Byrnes-PrestonBE (UNSW)

Dr Spencer ChenBE (Hons) (UNSW), MBiomedE (UNSW), PhD (UNSW)

Mr Chris DoddsBE (Hons) (UNSW), MBiomedE (UNSW)

Dr Socrates DokosBE (Hons) (UNSW), PhD (UNSW)

Mr Lars Elmgreen (Concluded in April)ME (Denmark)

Dr Rylie GreenBE (UNSW), ME (UNSW), PhD (UNSW)

Ms Cherry Ying Yan HoBEng (Sydney) ME (Sydney)

Ms Wenqi HuangME (UNSW)

Mr Saiful JoarderBSc (Bangladesh), MSc (Sydney)

Mr Louis JungBTeleE (UNSW), ME (UNSW)

Mr Fabian Kohler (concluded in July)

Mr Sergej KolkeDipMechE (RUB)

Mr Tom KulagaBEng Hons (UNSW), BSc (UNSW)

Mr William LimBE (Hons) (UNSW), MBiomedE (UNSW)

Prof Nigel LovellBE (Hons) (UNSW), PhD (UNSW)

Dr Paul MatteucciBE PhD (Genova)

Mr Manohar NayakBE (USyd)

Mr Apoorv MintriBE Biomedical Engineering (Sydney)

Mr Stephen Mow

Mr. David Moussa (Concluded in June)

Mr Mo NikroBE Dip Eng. Prac. (UTS)

Mr Sunil PatelBE (Hons) (UNSW) MBiomedE (UNSW)

Mr Thomas Prischenk (concluded in July) BSc (Freiburg)

A/Prof Gregg SuaningBSc (California), MSc (California), PhD (UNSW)

Mr David TsaiBE (Hons) (UNSW), MBiomedE (UNSW), PhD (UNSW)

Ms Vivienne WongBE (Hons) (UNSW) MBiomedE (UNSW)

Dr Robert WilkeBE (Hons) (Roma Tre), MSc (Tübingen), MD (Tübingen)

Students

Mr Amr Al Abed BMSc (Hons) (UNSW), MBioE (UNSW)

Mr Umar AnsariBE (Hons) (NUST)

Mr Charles Chan (February – June)

Mr Calvin D. EiberBSc (Case Western Reserve University)

Mr Alexander Emperle(Concluded in November)

Mr Thomas GuentherMSc (IMTEK, Freiburg)

Mr Tianruo GuoBE (Hons) (Beijing), ME (UNSW)

Mr Amgad HabibBSc (Hons) (Waterloo)

Ms Gita KhaliliBSc (Hons) (Azad), MSc (Azad)

Ms Lauren Meredith (February – June)

Ms Pamela Nassif (February – June)

Ms Nazaha Riffah (February – June)

Mr Nitzan ShanyBE (Hons)

Mr Hamza ToorBSc (Riphah)

Ms Jennifer Tran (February – June)

Mr Shijie YinBE (Hons) (Auckland)

School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications

Researchers

Dr Torsten Lehmann MScEE PhD (Denmark)

University of Western Sydney

Researchers

Dr Morven CameronBSc Neuroscience (Manchester), PhD Neuroscience (Manchester)

Prof John MorleyBSc (LaTrobe), MSc (Melb), PhD (Melb)

The Australian National University / NVRI

Researchers

Dr Shaun ClohertyBE, PhD

Prof Michael IbbotsonBSc, PhD (London)

Dr Brendan O’BrienBA, PhD

Students

Mr Alex HadjinicolaouBE

Mr Raymond WongBE, MSc

BVA Executive TeamMr Wayne BahrFinance Officer, BCom (Tas)

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

Ms Mathilde EscudieRisk Intern, BSc (Ensib)

Ms Alana FaigenCommunications Assistant, BA (Monash), MCom (RMIT)

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

Ms Tracy PainterExecutive Officer

Ms Julie Anne QuinnGeneral Manager, BAppSc (RMIT), Grad Dip Mktg (Monash), ME (RMIT)

Dr Alan Woods (July – December)Laboratory Practices Consultant (Medical Devices), BSc (Hons) (Monash), PhD (Monash)

Contributing Research Collaborators

Individuals

Dr Larry Abel Dept of Optometry and Vision Sciences University of Melbourne

Ms Elisa Borg (concluded in December)Department of Otolaryngology, University of Melbourne

Mr Hilary FongConsultant

Dr Barry GowSenior Visiting FellowUniversity of New South Wales

Dr Alan HeritageProduction Microbiologist: Cleanroom Device Manufacture and Sterilisation Cochlear Ltd

Prof Peter HunterDirector, Auckland Bioengineering Institute

Dr Elinore McKone QEII Discovery Fellow Professor, Australian National University

Dr Sue PierceVeterinary Surgeon, St Vincent’s Hospital

A/Prof Andrew Rhys University of Sydney, UNSW

Dr Ross Smith Research Fellow, University of Adelaide

Prof Bruce Thomas University of Adelaide

Dr Ehsan VaghefiResearch Fellow, Auckland Bioengineering Institute

Organisations

RayMax Lasers

St Vincent’s Pathology and Histology

Bio21 Imaging

Johnson Matthey

IBM

Waterfall Commercialisation Group

Phillips Ormonde Fitzpatrick

Publications Listing

Peer-Reviewed Journal Publications and Full Conference Papers

1. Abramian, M., Lovell, N.H., Morley, J.W., Suaning, G.J., Dokos, S. (2011), ‘Activation of retinal ganglion cells following epiretinal electrical stimulation with hexagonally-arranged bipolar electrodes.’ Journal of Neural Engineering, vol. 8, no. 3, 035004.

2. Bai, S., Skafidas, S., ‘A Simple Voltage Reference with Ultra Supply Independency,’ International Symposium on Circuits and Systems, Seoul, Korea, 20-23 May 2012.

3. Chang, D., Dokos, S., Lovell, N.H. (2011), ‘Temporo-spatial model construction using the MML and software framework,’ IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering Letters, vol. 58, no. 12, pp. 3528-31.

4. Cicione, R., Shivdasani M.N., Fallon J.B., Luu, C.D., Allen, P.J., Rathbone, G.D., Shepherd, R.K., Williams, C.E., ‘Visual cortex responses to suprachoroidal electrical stimulation of the retina: effects of electrode return configuration.’ Journal of Neural Enginnering. (Accepted 11 January 2012)

5. Garrett, D., Ganesan, K., Stacey, A., Fox, K., Meffin, H., Prawer, S. (2012), ‘Ultra-nanocrystalline electrodes: optimising for neural stimulation.’ Journal of Neural Engineering, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 10.

6. Green, R.A., Hassarati, R.T., Goding, J.A., Baek, S., Lovell, N.H., Martens, P.J., Poole-Warren, L.A., ‘Conductive hydrogels: Mechanically robust hybrids for use as biomaterials.’ Macromolecule Bioscience. (Accepted 20 December 2011)

7. Green, R.A., Toor, H., Dodds, C., Lovell, N.H. (2011), ‘Variation in performance of platinum electrodes with size and surface roughness, MEMS-Based Artificial Retinas: Sensing, Materials and Clinical Issues.’ Journal of Sensors and Materials. (Accepted 19 January 2012)

8. Guenther, T., Lovell, N.H., Suaning, G.J. (2011), ‘Bionic Vision: System Architectures – A Review.’ Expert Reviews of Medical Devices, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 33-48.

9. Halpern, M. (2011), ‘Achievable peak electrode voltage reduction by neurostimulators using descending staircase currents to deliver charge.’ Proc. 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September 2011, pp. 2985-2988.

10.Joarder, S.A., Abramian, M., Suaning, G.J, Lovell, N.H., Dokos, S. (2011), ‘A continuum model of retinal electrical stimulation.’ Journal of Neural Engineering, vol. 8, no. 6, 066006.

11.Kameneva, T., Meffin, H., Burkitt, A.N. (2011), ‘Modelling intrinsic electrophysiological properties of ON and OFF retinal ganglion cells.’ Journal of Computer Neuroscience, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 547-561.

12.Koushaeian, L., Muktamath, V., Ghafari, B., Goodarzy, F., Evans, R., Skafidas, S., ‘Design of low-power bandgap reference voltage circuit for epi-retinal prosthesis.’ IEEE International Conference on Broadband Communications and Biomedical Applications, Melbourne Australia, 21-24 November 2011.

13.Lieby, P., Barnes, N., McCarthy, C., Liu, N., Dennet, H., Walker, J., Botea, V., Scott, A., ‘Substituting depth for intensity and real-time phosphene rendering: Visual navigation under low vision conditions.’ 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September, 2011, pp. 8017-8020.

14.Li, H., Shen, C., Shi, Q., ‘Real time visual tracking using compressive sensing.’ IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Colorado Springs, USA, June 2011, pp. 1305-1312.

15.McCarthy, C., Barnes, N., Lieby, P., ‘Ground surface segmentation for navigation with a low resolution visual prosthesis.’ 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September, 2011, pp. 4457-4460.

16.Ng, D.C., Wang, X., Felic, G.K., Bai, S., Boyd, C.S., Halpern, M.E., Skafidas, E. (2011), ‘Specific Absorption Rate Distribution on a Human Head Model from Inductive Power Coils.’ 10th International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility, York, UK, 26 – 30 September 2011, pp. 79-83.

17.Ng, D., Williams, C.E., Allen, P.A., Bai, S., Boyd, C., Meffin, H., Halpern, M., Skafidas, E. (2011), ‘Wireless power delivery for retina prostheses.’ Proc. 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September, 2011, pp. 8356-8360.

18.Park, K., Shen, C., Hao, Z., Kim, J., ‘Efficiently learning a distance metric for large margin nearest neighbour classification.’ National Conference on Artificial Intelligence, San Francisco, USA, 7-12 August 2011, pp. 453-458.

19.Shen, C., Hao, Z., ‘A direct formulation for totally-corrective multi-class boosting.’ IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Colorado Springs, USA, June 2011, pp. 2585-2592.

20.Shen, C., Kim, J., Wang, L., ‘A scalable dual approach to semi-definite metric learning. IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Colorado Springs, USA, June 2011, pp. 2601-2608.

21.Stacey, A., Li, Y., Barnes, N., ‘A salient information processing system for bionic eye with application to obstacle avoidance.’ 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September 2011, pp. 5116-5119.

22.Tran, N., Skafidas, E., Yang, J., Bai, S., Fu, M., Ng, D., Halpern, M., Mareels, I., ‘A Prototype 64-electrode stimulator in 65nm CMOS process towards an high density epi-retinal prosthesis.’ Proc. 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September 2011, pp. 6729-6732.

23.Tsai, D., Morley, J.W., Suaning, G.J., Lovell, N.H. (2011), ‘Frequency-dependent reduction of voltage-gated sodium channels modulates retinal ganglion cell response rate to electrical stimulation.’ Journal of Neural Engineering, vol 8, 066007. (Featured article)

24.Vessey, K.A., Fletcher, E.L. (2012), ‘Rod and Cone Pathway Signalling is Altered in the PX27 Knock out Mouse,’ Public Library of Science One. Vol 7, no 1, e29990.

25.Villalobos, J., Allen, P.J., McCombe, M.F., Ulaganathan, M., Zamir, E., Ng, D.C., Shepherd, R.K., Williams, C.E. (2011), ‘Development of a surgical approach for a Wide-View suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis: evaluation of implantation trauma.’ Graefe’s Archive for Clinical Experimental Ophthalmology (Accepted 27 August 2011).

26.Wilke, R., Gabel, V.P., Sachs, H., Schmidt, K.B., Gekeler, F., Besch, D., Szurman, P., Stett, A., Wilhelm, B., Peters, T., Harscher, A., Greppmaier, U., Kibbel, S., Benav, H., Bruckmann, A., Stingl, K., Kusnyerik, A., Zrenner, E. (2011), ‘Spatial resolution and perception of patterns mediated by a subretinal 16-electrode array in patients blinded by hereditary retinal dystrophies.’ Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, vol 52, no 8, pp. 5995-6003.

27.Wilke, R.G.H., Khalili Moghadam, G., Lovell, N.H., Suaning, G.J., Dokos, S., (2011). ‘Electric crosstalk impairs spatial resolution of multi-electrode arrays in retinal implants.’ Journal of Neural Engineering, vol. 8, no. 4, 046016.

28.Yang, J., Tran, N., Bai, S., Fu, M., Skafidas, E., Halpern, M., Ng, D.C., Mareels, I. (2011), ‘A Subthreshold Down Converter Optimized for Super-Low-Power Applications in MICS Band,’ Proc. 33rd IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference, San Diego, USA, pp. 189-192.

29.Yin, S., Lovell, N.H., Suaning, G.J., Dokos, S. (2011), ‘Continuum Model of Light Response in the Retina.’ Proc. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Boston, USA, pp. 908-911.

Peer-Reviewed Internationally Recognised Conference Publications: Posters, Papers (other than full conference papers) and Presentations (other than invited presentations)

1. Abramian, M., Dokos S., Lovell, NH., ‘Spatial extent of retinal activation using epiretinal hex electrodes.’ Australasian Neuroscience Society, Auckland, New Zealand, February 2011.

2. Abramian M,. Lovell, N.H., Morley, J.W., Suaning, G.J., Dokos, S., ‘Simulated 3D retinal ganglion cell response to electrical stimulation.’ Proc. International Conference on Neuroprosthetic Devices, Sydney, Australia, 25-26 November 2011.

3. Allen, P.J., ‘Fundamentals of a Retinal Prosthesis: A surgical perspective of suprachoroidal and epiretinal prostheses’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

4. Allen, P.J., McCombe, M.F., Yeoh, J., Luu, C.D., Villalobos, J., Shivdasani, M., Nayagam, D., Lovell, N., Suaning, G., Williams, C., Shepherd, R., Guymer, R.H., ‘To develop a cat model for chronic active stimulation with a wide-field suprachoroidal array to aid in the development of a human low resolution device.’ The Retina Society 44th Annual Scientific Meeting, Rome, Italy, 21-25 September 2011.

5. Anenden, M.P., Svehla., M. Lovell, N.H., Suaning, G.J., ‘Process Development for Dry Etching Polydimethylsiloxane for Neural Electrodes.’ 33rd Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS, Boston, Massachusetts USA, September 2011.

6. Aplin, F.P., Fletcher, E., Luu, C.D., Shepherd, R.K., Guymer, R.H., ‘Blind feline model for retinal prosthesis.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

7. Ayton, L.N., Luu, C.D., Guymer, R.H., ‘Choroidal Thickness in Retinitis Pigmentosa.’ Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Florida, USA, 1-5 May 2011.

8. Barnes, N.M., Lieby, P., Dennett, H., McCarthy, C., Liu, N., Walker, J.G., ‘Mobility Experiments with simulated vision and sensory substitution of depth.’ Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Florida, USA, 1-5 May 2011. (Poster selected as “Hot Topic”)

9. Barnes, N., Lieby, P., Dennett, H., McCarthy, C., Liu, N., Walker, J., Li, Y., ‘Investigating the role of direct depth information in visually-guided mobility,’ 11th Annual Meeting of the Vision Science Society, Florida, USA, 6-11 May 2012.

10.Barnes, N.M., Walker, J.G., McCarthy, C.D., Botea, V., Scott, A.F., Dennett, H., Lieby, P., ‘Evaluating Depth-based Visual Representations For Mobility In Simulated Prosthetic Vision.’ Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Florida, USA, 6-10 May.

11.Barrigara-Rivera, A., Suaning, G., ‘Digital image processing for visual prosthesis: Filtering implications.’ 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September 2011.

12.Cameron, M., Suaning, G.J., Lovell, N.H., Morley, J.W., ‘Electrical activation of inner retinal neurons in wild-type and rd1 mice.’ Australian Neuroscience Society Annual Conference 2012, Gold Coast, Australia, 29 January – 1 February 2012.

13.Cameron, M.A., Suaning, G.J., Lovell, N.H., Morley, J.W., ‘Electrical activation of inner retinal neurons.’ Submitted to Society for Neuroscience, Washington, USA, 12-16 November 2011.

14.Chaekyung, L., Seo, J., Chen, S., Suaning, G.J., Lovell, N.H., Green, R.A. (2011), ‘Stability of conducting polymers in neural stimulating implants.’ Neuroprosthetic Devices Conference, Sydney, Australia 25-26 November 2011.

15.Chen, S.C., Matteucci, P.B., Dokos, S., Morley, J.W., Lovell, N.H., Suaning, G.J., ‘A 3D spiking activity strength-duration model of cortical response to suprachoroidal retinal stimulation.’ Neuroprosthetic Devices Conference, Sydney, Australia, 25-26 November 2011.

16.Chung, H., Che, C.W., Bae, S.H., Lee, S.W., Koo, K.I., Seo, J.M., Suaning, G.J., Lovell, N.H., Cho, D., Kim, S.J., ‘In vitro bio compatibility of various polymers for retinal prosthesis.’ Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Florida, USA, 1-5 May 2011.

17.Cicione, R., Shivdasani, M.N., Fallon, J.B., Luu, C.D., Allen, P.J., Rathbone, G., Williams, C.E., ‘Efficacy of electrode return configuration in a suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis.’ Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Florida, USA, 1-5 May 2011.

18.Dodds, C.W., Schuettler, M., Guenther, T., Lovell, N.H., Suaning, G.J., ‘Advancements in electrode design and laser techniques for fabricating micro-electrode arrays as part of a retinal prosthesis.’ 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September 2011.

19.Eiber, C., Suaning, G.J., ‘Trends in Retinal Ganglion Cell Threshold in Visual Prosthesis.’ Proc. International Conference of Neuroprosthetic Devices, Sydney, Australia 25-26 November 2011.

20.Fletcher, E.L., Vessey, K.A., Jobling, AI., ‘The role of P2X7 receptors in exacerbating photoreceptor death in the Rd1 mouse model of retinal degeneration.’ Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Florida, USA, 1-5 May 2011.

21.Fox, K., Garrett, D.J., Greferath, U., Fletcher E., Vessey K., Allen P., Ganesan, K., Meffin M., Prawer, S., ‘Diamond as an implantable material.’ Ninth World Biomaterials Congress, Chengdu, China, 1-5 June 2012.

22.Ganesan, K., Garrett, D., Fox, K., Meffin, H., Prawer, S., ‘Diamond microelectorde array for High-Acuityretinal prosthesis.’ Ninth World Biomaterials Congress, Chengdu, China, 1-5 June 2012.

23.Ganesan, K., Stacey, A., Garrett, D., Fox, K., Meffin, H., Prawer, S., ‘A monolithic diamond microelectrode array for High-Acuity retinal prosthesis.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

24.Garrett, D.J., Ganesan, K., Stacey, A., Fox, K., Meffin, H., Prawer, S., ‘Ultra-nanocrystalline diamond electrodes: Optimisation for neural Stimulation.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

25.Green, R.A., Bouchinet, L., Byrnes-Preston, P., Suaning, G.J., Poole-Warren, L.A., Lovell, N.H. ‘Stability of conducting polymer coatings under neural stimulation for implant lifetimes.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

26.Green, R.A., Duan, C., Hassarati, R., Goding, J., Byrnes-Preston, P.J., Suaning, G.J., Poole-Warren, L.A., Lovell, N.H., ‘Electrochemical stability of poly(ethylene dioxythiophene) electrodes.’ Proc. Fifth International IEEE Neural Engineering Conference, Cancun, Mexico, 28 April-1 May 2011.

27.Green., R.A., Hassarati., R.T., Lovell, N.H., Martens., P.J., Poole-Warren, L.A., ‘Conductive hydrogel electrodes for stimulating neuroprostheses.’ World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Beijing, China, 26-31 May 2011.

28.Greferath, U., O’Brien, E.E., Kallionatis, M., Fletcher, E.L., ‘Characterising retinal degeneration in a novel mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa.’ Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Florida, USA, 1-5 May 2011.

29.Guenther, T., Dodds, D., Lovell, N.H., Suaning, G.J., ‘Chip-scale hermetic feedthroughs for implantable bionics.’ 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September 2011.

30.Guenther, T., Apoorv, M., Lim, W.W., Jung, L.H., Lehmann, T., Lovell, N.H., Suaning, G.J., ‘Laser-mircomachined, chip-scaled ceramic carriers for implantable neurostimulators.’ 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September 2011.

31.Guo, T., Tsai, D., Lovell, N.H., Dokos, S., ‘A modified retinal ganglia cell model.’ Neuroprosthetic Devices Conference, Sydney, Australia, 25-26 November 2011.

32.Habib, A.G., Cameron, M.A., Suaning, G.J., Lovell, N.H., Morley, J.W., ‘Retinal ganglion cell thresholds to electrical stimulation using hexagonal guard return and monopolar return configurations.’ Australian Neuroscience Society 32nd Annual Meeting, Gold Coast, Australia, 29 January-1 February 2012.

33.Hadjinicolaou, A.E., Hietanen, M.A., Suaning, G.J., Ibbotson, M.R., Cloherty, S.L., ‘Focal activation of visual cortex through suprachoroidal electrical stimulation of the retina.’ Australasian Neuroscience Society, Auckland, New Zealand, 31 January-3 February 2011.

34.Hadjinicolaou, A.E., Kameneva, T., Wong, R., Grayden, D.B., Burkitt, A.N., Meffin, H., O’Brien, B., ‘Sinusoidal stimulation of retinal ganglion cells: computational model and experimental results.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

35.Hadjinicolaou, A.E., Kameneva, T., Wong, R., Grayden, D.B., Cloherty, S.L., Ibbotson, M.R., Burkitt, A.N., Meffin, H., O’Brien, B., ‘Sinusoidal stimulation of retinal ganglion cells: computational model and experimental results.’ Proc. 32nd Annual Meeting of Australian Neuroscience Society, Gold Coast, Australia, 29 January-1 February 2012.

36.He, X., Shen, C., Barnes, N.M., ‘Face detection and tracking in video to facilitate face recognition in a visual prosthesis.’ Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Florida, USA, 1-5 May 2011.

37.Horne, L., Barnes, N., McCarthy, C., He, X., ‘Object Detection for Bionic Vision.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

38.Jung, L.H., Shany, N., Lehmann, T., Byrnes-Preston, P., Lovell, N.H., ‘Towards a chip scale neurostimulator: system architecture of a current-driven 98 channel neurostimulator via a two-wire interface.’ 33rd IEEE

Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September 2011.

39.Kameneva, T., Grayden, D.B., Meffin, H., Burkitt, A., ‘Simulating electrical stimulation of degenerative retinal ganglion cells with bi-phasic pulse trains.’ 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September, 2011.

40.Kameneva, T., Hadjinicolaou, A., Wong, R., Grayden, D.B., Burkitt, A.N., Meffin, H., O’Brien., B., ‘Simulating electrical stimulation of degenerative retinal ganglion cells with bi-phasic pulse trains.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

41.Kameneva, T., Meffin, H., Burkitt, A.N., ‘ON and OFF retinal ganglion cells: response to sinusoidal stimulation.’ 32nd Annual Meeting of Australian Neuroscience Society, Gold Coast, Australia, 29 January-1 February 2012.

42.Kameneva, T., Meffin, H., Grayden, D.B., Burkitt. A.N., ‘Sinusoidal stimulation of retinal bipolar cells: a modelling study.’ The Ninth IASTED International Conference on Biomedical Engineering, Innsbruck, Austria, 15-17 February 2012.

43.Khalili Moghaddam, G., Dokos, S., Suaning, G.J., Lovell, N.H., Wilke, R.G.H., ‘Electric crosstalk impairs spatial resolution when using multielectrode arrays for retinal implants.’ Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Florida, USA, 1-5 May 2011.

44.Khalili Moghaddam, G., Wilke, R., Dokos, S., Suaning, G.J., Novell, N.H. (2011), ‘Electrode design to optimise ganglion cell activation in retinal neuroprosthesis: A modeling study.’ Proc. IEEE Neural Engineering, Cancun, Mexico, 28 April-1 May 2011, 4pp.

45.Kim, J., He, X., Barnes, N., ‘Automatic Face Zooming and Its Stability Analysis on a Phosphene Display.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

46.Kiral-Kornek, F.I., Savage, C.O., ‘Saliency under Phosphenated Vision.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

47.Kiral-Kornek, F.I., Savage, C.O., Grayden, D.B., ‘The Focus of Attention under Phosphenated Vision through Retinal Implants.’ Seventh International Conference on Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing, Adelaide, Australia, 6-9 December 2011.

48.Leung ,R.T., Nayagam, D.A., Williams, C.E., Shepherd, R.K., Williams, R.A., Luu, C.D., Allen, P.J., Salinas-La Rosa, C.M., Freemantle, A., McPhedran, M., Basa, M., Yeoh, J., McCombe, M., Ayton, L.N., Bowman, E.A., Villalobos, J., ‘Removability of a suprachoroidal retina prosthesis.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

49.Lichter, S., Garrett, D., Ganesan, K., Fox K., Prawer, S., ‘A fully hermetic diamond encapsulation for a High-Acuityretinal prosthesis.’ Ninth World Biomaterials Congress, Chengdu, China, 1-5 June 2012.

50.Lieby, P., Barnes, N., McCarthy, C., Scott, A.F., Botea, V., Walker, J.G., ‘Mobility Experiments Using Simulated Prosthetic Vision With 98 Phosphenes Of Limited Dynamic Range.’ Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Florida, USA, 6-10 May 2012. (Accepted – Poster)

51.Luu, C.D., ‘Optimising stimulation configuration for a suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis.’ Asia-Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Singapore, 20-23 January 2011.

52.Matteucci, P.B., Byrnes-Preston, P., Chen, S.C., Lovell, N.H., Suaning, G.J., ‘ARM-based visual processing system for prosthetic vision.’ 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September 2011.

53.Maturana, M., Kameneva, T., Meffin, H., Grayden, D.B., Burkitt, A.N., ‘Computational model: effect of morphology on a constrained ionic conductance parameter set for ON and OFF retinal ganglion cells.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

54.Maturana, M., Kameneva, T., Meffin, H., Grayden, D.B., Burkitt, A.N., ‘Constraining the persistent sodium current in ON and OFF retinal ganglion cells.’ Students in Brain Research Conference 2011, Melbourne, Australia, 6 October 2011.

55.McCarthy, C., Lieby, P., Walker, J.G., Scott, A.F., Botea, V., Barnes, N., ‘Low Contrast Trip Hazard Avoidance using Simulated Prosthetic Vision.’ Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Florida, USA, 6-10 May 2012. (Accepted – Presentation)

56.Meffin, H., Tahayori, B., Grayden, D., Burkitt, A., ‘What determines the response of a neuron to electrical stimulation: charge or electric field.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

57.Meffin, H., Tahayori, B., Kameneva, T., Grayden, D.B., Burkitt, A.N., ‘Comparing longitudinal and transverse modes of electrical stimulation of

neural fibres.’ Australasian Neuroscience Society, Auckland, New Zealand, 31 January-3 February 2011.

58.Nayagam, D.A., Allen, P.J., Shivdasani, M.N., Fallon, J.B., Yeoh, J., Wise, A., Luu, C.D., Freemantle, A.L., McPhedran, M.E., Williams, R.A., Basa, M., Villalobos, J., Bowman, E., Shepherd, R.K,. Williams, C.E., ‘A clinically relevant approach for long-term stimulation by active suprachoroidal implants in cats.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

59.Nayagam, D.A.X., Allen, P.J., Shivdasani, M.N., Fallon, J., Yeoh, J., Wise, A., Luu, C.D., Freemantle, A., McPhedran, M., Williams, R.A., Basa, M., Bowman, E., Shepherd, R.K., Williams, C.E., ‘A Pre-Clinical Model For Chronic Electrical Stimulation Of The Retina Via Suprachoroidal Electrodes.’ NHMRC 75th Anniversary Symposium, Canberra, Australia, 29 November-1 December 2011.

60.Nayagam, D.A.X., Allen, P.J., Shivdasani, M.N., Fallon, J., Yeoh, J., Wise, A., Luu, C.D., Freemantle, A., McPhedran, M., Williams, R.A., Basa, M., Bowman, E., Shepherd, R.K., Williams, C.E., ‘A Pre-Clinical Model For Chronic Electrical Stimulation Of The Retina Via Suprachoroidal Electrodes.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

61.Nayagam, D.A.X., Villalobos, J., Allen, P.J., Luu, C.D., McVelvie, P., Freemantle, A.L., McPhedran, M.E., Basa, M., Shepherd, R.K., Williams, C.E., ‘A suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis is safe in a chronic implantation model.’ Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Florida, USA, 1-5 May 2011.

62.Nayagam, D.A., Villalobos, J., Allen, P.J., Luu, C.D., McKelvie, P., Freemantle, A.L., McPhedran, M.E., Basa, M., McGowan, C.C., Shepherd, R.K., Williams, C.E., ‘A suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis is safe in a chronic implantation model.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

63.Ng, D.C., Wang, X., Felic, G.K., Bai, S., Boyd, C.S., Halpern, M., Skafidas, E., ‘Specific absorption rate distribution on a human head model from inductive power coils.’ EMC Europe, York, UK, 26-30 September.

64.Ng, D., Williams, C.E., Allen, P.A., Bai, S., Boyd, C., Meffin, H., Halpern, M., Skafidas, E., ‘Wireless power delivery for retina prostheses.’ 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September 2011.

65.O’Brien, E.E., Fletcher, E.L., Greferath, U., ‘Characterising remodelling events in the inner retina of aged rd1 mice.’ 31st Annual Meeting of the Australian Neuroscience Society, Auckland, New Zealand, 31 January-3 February 2011.

66.O’Brien, E.E., Greferath, U., Fletcher, E.L., ‘Ganglion cells have altered morphology in the aged degenerated retina.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

67.Opie, N.L., Vessey, K., Greferath, U., Burkitt, A.N., Grayden, D.B., Meffin, H., Fletcher, E.L. ‘Thermal and mechanical trauma induced by retinal implants: In vitro assessment of morphological alterations in rat retinal microglia. Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

68.Rozario, A., Fox, K., Garrett, D., Lichter, S., Ganesan, K., Meffin, H., Prawer, S., ‘Optimizing adhesion of parylene-C to diamond under long-term in-vivo conditions.’ 36th Annual Condensed Matter and Materials Meeting, Wagga Wagga, Australia, 31 January-3 February 2012. (Poster presentation)

69.Savage, C.O., ‘Eye position prediction in the case of Nystagmus and Refixations.’ 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September 2011.

70.Savage, C.O., ‘Psychophysical Test Requirement Reduction via Taguchi Methods.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

71.Savage, C.O., Grayden, D.B., Meffin, H., Burkitt, A., ‘Predicting phosphene elicitation in patients with retinal implants: A mathematical study.’ 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September 2011.

72.Savage, C.O., Halpern, M.E., ‘Phosphene Brightness Modelling for Voltage Driven Waveform.’ Seventh International Conference on Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing, Adelaide, Australia, 6-9 December 2011.

73.Sergeev, E., Meffin, H., Tahayori, B., Burkitt, A., Grayden, D., Shivasani, M., Williams, C., ‘The reduction of thresholds when stimulating the retina with electrodes simultaneously is explained by current spread.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

74.Shivdasani, M.N., Fallon, J.B., Luu, C.D., Cicione, R., Allen, P.J., Morley, J.W., Williams, C.E., ‘Cortical responses to single and multiple-electrode stimulation of a suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis.’ Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Florida, USA, 1-5 May 2011.

75.Shivdasani, M.N., Fallon, J.B., Luu, C.D., Cicione, R., Allen, P.J., Morley, J.W., Williams, C.E., ‘Multiunit responses in the visual cortex to single and

multiple electrode stimulation of the retina.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

76.Slonim, E., Fox, K., Garrett, D., Meffin, H., Prawer, S., ‘Effect of protein on electrochemical properties of diamond.’ 36th Annual Condensed Matter and Materials Meeting, Wagga Wagga, Australia, 31 January – 3 February 2012. (Oral presentation)

77.Tahayori, B., ‘Comparing longitudinal and transverse modes of electrical stimulation in neural fibres.’ Australasian Neuroscience Society, Auckland, New Zealand, February 2011.

78.Tahayori, B., Meffin, H., Venables, N., Grayden, D.B., Burkitt, A., ‘Theoretical framework to estimate conductivity map of the retina through finite element analysis.’ 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September 2011.

79.Tsai, D., Morley, J.W., Suaning, G.J., Lovell, N.H., ‘Activation of voltage-gated ion channels in retinal ganglion cells following electrical stimulation of the retina.’ Australasian Neuroscience Society, Auckland, New Zealand, February 2011.

80.Tsai, D., Morley, J.W., Suaning, G.J., Lovell, N.H., ‘Responses of starburst amacrine cells to prosthetic stimulation of the retina.’ 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September 2011.

81.Tsai, D., Morley, J.W., Suaning, G.J., Lovell, N.H. (2011), ‘Sodium channel inactivation reduces retinal ganglion cell responsiveness to repetitive prosthetic stimulation.’ Proc. IEEE Neural Engineering, Cancun, Mexico, 28 April-1 May 2011, 4pp.

82.Tsai, D., Morley, J.W., Suaning, G.J., Lovell, N.H., ‘Temporal response profiles of amacrine cells following electrical stimulation of the retina.’ Submitted to Society for Neuroscience, Washington, USA, 12-16 November 2011.

83.Venables, N., Tahayori, B., Meffin, H., Grayden, D., Burkitt, A., ‘Determining the Impedance of the Retinal Layers from Noisy Voltage Measurements.’ Fifth Australian Workshop on Computational Neuroscience, Sydney, Australia, 13-14 December 2011.

84.Venables, N., Tahayori, B., Meffin, H., Grayden, D., Burkitt, A., ‘Estimating the electrical impedance of a retina using finite element modelling.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

85.Villalobos, J., Allen, P.J., Freemantle, A.L., Nayagam, D.A., Luu, C.D., Ayton, L.N., McPhedran, M.E., Shepherd, R.K., Williams, C.E., ‘A contoured suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis allows safe post-surgical recovery.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

86.Villalobos, J., Nayagam, D.A., Allen, P.J., Luu, C.D., Fallon, J.B., Shivdasani, M.N., Freemantle, A.L., McPhedran, M., Shepherd, R.K., Williams, C.E., ‘A wide-field suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis reliably elicits cortical activity after chronic implantation.’ Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Florida, USA, 1-5 May 2011.

87.Villalobos, J., Nayagam, D.A., Allen, P.J., Luu, C.D., Fallon, J.B., Shivdasani, M.N., Freemantle, A.L., McPhedran, M.E., Shepherd, R.K., Williams, C.E., ‘A wide-field retinal prosthesis elicits cortical activity after chronic implantation.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

88.Villalobos, J., Allen, P.J., McCombe, M.F., McPhedran, M., Shepherd, RK., Williams, C., ‘Implantation trauma of a wide-field suprachoroidal retinal prosthesis.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

89.Villalobos, J., Nayagam, D.A.X., Allen, P.J., Luu, C.D., McKelvie, P., Freemantle, A., McPhedran, M., Basa, M., McGowan, C.C., Shepherd, R.K., Williams, C.E., ‘A wide-field retinal prosthesis is well tolerated in the suprachoroidal space.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

90.Walker, J., Barnes, N., Lieby, P., McCarthy, C., Dennett, H., ‘The impact of environment complexity on mobility performance for prosthetic vision using the visual representation of depth.’ The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists 43rd Annual Scientific Congress: Sharing the Vision, Canberra, Australia, 19-22 November 2011.

91.Wilke, R., ‘Psychophysics and Clinical Performance of Retinal Prostheses.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011.

92.Wilke, R.G., Khalili Moghaddam, G., Lovell, N., Dokos, S., Suaning, G., ‘Multipolar Return Configurations In Microelectrode Arrays Designed For Retinal Implants: Modeling Effects On Threshold Levels And Dynamic Range.’ Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Florida, USA, 6-10 May 2012. (Accepted for poster)

93.Wong, R., Marginson, M., Cloherty, S.L., Ibbotson, M.R., O’Brien, B., ‘Spike waveform analysis can reliably identify some re ganglion cell types.’ Proc. 32nd Annual Meeting of the Australian Neuroscience Society, Gold Coast, Australia, 29 January-1 February 2012.

94.Wong, R.C.S., Raj, D.S., Cloherty, S.L., Ibbotson, M.R., O’Brien, B.J., ‘Intrinsic physiological properties of rat retinal ganglion cells.’ Australasian Neuroscience Society, Auckland, New Zealand, February 2011.

95.Yin, S., Lovell, N.H., Suaning, G.J., Dokos, S., ‘Bionic Vision – A retinal network model.’ Australasian Neuroscience Society, Auckland, New Zealand, February 2011.

96.Yin, S., Lovell, N.H., Suaning, G.J., Dokos, S., ‘Continuum model of light response in the retina.’ 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology. Boston, USA, September 2011.

97.Yin, S., Lovell, N.H., Suaning, G.J., Dokos, S., ‘Pseudo-bidomain computational model of the retinal architecture.’ Neuroprosthetic Devices Conference, Sydney, Australia, 25-26 November.

Invitations to present at Peer-Reviewed Internationally Recognised Conferences received in 2011

1. Allen, P.J., McCombe, M.F., Yeoh, J., Luu, C.D., Villalobos, J., Shivdasani, M., Nayagam, D., Lovell, N.H, Suaning, G.J, Williams, C., Shepherd, R., Guymer, R.H., ‘To develop a cat model for chronic active stimulation with a wide-field suprachoroidal array to aid in the development of a human low resolution device.’ The Retina Society 44th Annual Scientific Meeting, Rome, Italy, 21-25 September 2011.

2. Barnes, N., ‘Computer vision for the Bionic Eye.’ University of Maryland, September 2011.

3. Fletcher, E., Retina Australia Biannual Conference, Sydney, Australia, October 2012.

4. Fletcher, E., ‘Inherited Retinal Disease.’ Southern Regional Congress, Melbourne, Australia, May 2012.

5. Fletcher, E., ‘Inner retinal modelling following photoreceptor death: problem or epiphenomenon?’ Australian College of Optometry Annual Conference, 22 October 2011.

6. Fletcher, E., Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Congress, Sydney, Australia, 20-24 March 2011.

7. Fox, K., Garrett, D.J., Ganesan, K., Meffin, H., Prawer, S., ‘The Bionic Eye: Adventures towards an all-diamond multi-electrode array.’ BITs 2nd Annual World Congress of Nanomedicine, Shenzhen, China, 2-5 November 2011.

8. Garrett, D.J., MacDiarmid Student and Post Doc Symposium, Wellington, New Zealand, 18-19 November 2011.

9. Guymer, R., Distinctive Voices at the Beckham Centre, Irvine, California, 25 January 2012.

10.Guymer, R.H., ‘Electronic restoration of vision.’ Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology Congress, Sydney, Australia, 20-24 March 2011.

11.Guymer, R.H., ‘The challenge and promise of the bionic eye.’ Asia-Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Singapore, 20-23 January 2011.

12.Ibbotson, M., ‘Developing a Bionic Eye in Australia.’ Australian Vision Conference, Gold Coast, Australia, 29 April-1 May 2011.

13.Ibbotson, M.R., ‘In vivo and in vitro measurements of the efficacy of bionic eye implants.’ Asia-Annual Meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Singapore, 20-23 January 2011.

14.Lichter, S., ‘The Australian Bionic Eye: A Vision for the Future.’ 20th Annual AHRDMA Annual Scientific Meeting, Canberra, Australia, 17-18 March 2011.

15.Lovell, N.H., ‘How Medical Device Technologies are Supporting Aging in Place.’ Festival of International Conferences on Caregiving, Disability, Aging and Technology including Rehabilitation Society of North America, Toronto, Canada, 5-8 June 2011.

16.Lovell, N.H., ‘Biosignal processing and bioelectronics for wearable and implantable medical devices.’ International Symposium on Bioelectronics and Bioinformatics, Suzhou, China, 3-5 November 2011.

17.Lovell, N.H., ‘Technologies for ageing-in-place: From implantable bionics to biomonitoring.’ The Eighth IASTED International Conference on Biomedical Engineering, Innsbruck, Austria, 16-18 February 2011.

18.Lovell, N.H., ‘From falls prevention to vision restoration: medical device technologies for improving quality of life.’ 10th International Workshop on Biomedical Engineering, Kos-Helona, Greece, 5-7 October.

19.Prawer, S., pres. by Garrett, D.J., ‘Best friend for the blind: The Bionic Eye project.’ International Materials Research Congress, 14-19 August 2011, Cancun Mexico.

20.Savage, C.O., ‘Bionic Vision Australia.’ Biology Seminar Series, South Carolina, USA, September 2011.

21.Suaning, G., IDA Congress on Biotechnology, Taipei, October 2011.

22.Suaning G,J., ‘Significant advances in retinal degenerative diseases.’ Cátedra de Investigación en Retinosis Pigmentosa Bidons Egara, Elche, Spain, September 2011.

23.Suaning, G.J., ‘The next generation of visual neuroprosthesis: a two-wire, split-system approach.’ 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September 2011.

24.Suaning, G.J., ‘The supra-choroidal space: the place to be for retinal prosthesis?’ 33rd IEEE Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Boston, USA, September 2011.

25.Suaning G. ‘Visual Prosthesis – an engineer’s perspective.’ Second International Conference on Medical Bionics, Phillip Island, Australia, 20-23 November 2011. (Invited presentation)

26.Tahayori, B., ‘Key challenges of a retinal prosthesis.’ Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria, 20 December 2011.

Published Books, Book Chapters or other publications (including published lecture notes)

1. Fox, K. (2011), ‘Building a bionic eye’ in Physics World, vol. 24, no. 12, pp. 44-45.

Community Outreach Presentations (schools, universities, professional organisations, general public, vision impaired community) given in 2011

1. Ayton, L., Retina Australia Annual General Meeting, Adelaide, Australia, 22 October 2011.

2. Ayton, L., ‘The Bionic Eye – What will it mean for people who are blind or have low vision?’ Vision Australia 30th Annual Round Table on Information Access for People with Diabetes, Melbourne, Australia, 20-22 May 2011.

3. Ayton, L., Guide Dogs Victoria Annual General Meeting, 7 December

4. Ayton L. ‘Seeing the future: The Bionic Eye.’ The Australian Institute of Medical and Biological Illustration, Melbourme, Australia, 20 July 2011.

5. Ayton, L., National Conference for Blind Citizens Australia, Adelaide, Australia, 15 October 2011.

6. Ayton, L., ‘IT enables: Life, choices and participation forum.’ Social Inclusion week and International Day of People with Disability, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, 25 November 2011.

7. Brawn, T-L.E., ‘The Australian Bionic Eye.’ Victorian Science Talent Search, Melbourne, Australia, October 2011.

8. Burkitt, A., ‘Retinal Implant Development for the Sight Impaired: An overview of the Bionic Vision Australia Research Program.’ Melbourne Neuroscience Seminar Series, Melbourne, Australia, 8 June 2011.

9. Fletcher, E., Retina Australia Annual General Meeting, Adelaide, Australia, 22 October 2011.

10.Fletcher, E., University of Melbourne: Kwong-Lee Dow Scholarship holders information session, Melbourne, Australia, 8 December 2011.

11.Fletcher, E., ‘Development of a bionic eye in Australia.’ Melbourne Schools Partnership International, Melbourne, Australia, 4-5 August 2011.

12.Fletcher, E., ‘The development of a bionic eye.’ Brain-Bee of the Australian Neuroscience Society, Melbourne, Australia, 27 June.

13.Fox, K., Garrett, D.J., Ganesan, K., Meffin, H., Prawer, S., ‘The Bionic Eye.’ Howard Hughes School of Engineering, Nevada, USA, October 2011.

14.Guenther, T., (Finalist) Dean’s Award for Excellence in Postgraduate Research, Faculty of Engineering UNSW, Sydney, Australia, 27 October 2011.

15.Guymer, R., Royal Society of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, 10 November 2011.

16.Kameneva, T., ‘Bionic Eye.’ NICTA High School outreach, Melbourne, Australia, August 2011.

17.Lovell, N.H., ‘The science fiction and science fact behind an Australian bionic eye.’ CHAST public lecture, UniSyd (telecast ABC radio), Sydney, Australia, 15 August 2011.

18.Ng, D., ‘Bionic Eye – from an engineering perspective.’ Low Vision Services Expo, Bairnsdale, Victoria, 19 May 2011.

19.O’Brien, E., ‘Inner retinal changes during late stage degeneration.’ Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Melbourne University, Australia, March 2011.

20.Prawer, S., Nano-in-medicine symposium, Melbourne Brain Centre, 14 November 2011.

21.Savage, C., ‘Bionic Vision Australia.’ NICTA High School outreach, Melbourne, Australia, October, 2011.

22.Suaning, G., ‘Bionic Ears and Eyes.’ Museum of Human Disease, Sydney, Australia, 28 March 2011.

23.Tahayori, B., ‘Overview of the Australian Bionic Eye. Early Career Researcher Workshop: Healthy Living.’ Birmingham, UK, 13-15 December 2011.

24.Tsai, D.T., ‘Large-scale analysis of the retinal network’s responses to electrical stimulation: implications for brain science and neuroprosthetics.’ Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Massachusetts, USA, 2 September 2011.

Inside the bionic eyeResearchers are fine-tuning and optimising the design of the Wide-View device and pushing ahead with an intensive program of preclinical safety and efficacy testing in preparation for the first patient tests in 2013.

Patient tests with the High-Acuity device will be conducted in stages to enable progressive development. The first set of patient tests in 2014 will use a completely wired device. In the next stage of testing, researchers aim to use a device with only some wiring, working towards a totally wireless system in the final stage, where both data and power will be transferred wirelessly to the implant.

More information about participation in patient tests is available at our website: www.bionicvision.org.au/get_involved/test_participant

Bionic Vision AustraliaExecutive Office203 Bouverie StreetCarlton, Victoria 3053AustraliaPostal addressPO Box 623Carlton South, Victoria 3053Australiawww.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 members of Bionic Vision Australia.

Authorised by the Director. Published by Bionic Vision Australia, March 2012