A BIOTECH STARTUP WANTS TO REPLACE YOUR EYEBALLS WITH SYNTHET

[Dirty_Jerz]

IC ONES

Our eyes are such elegant, complex, specialized organs that their existence seems almost hard to believe--Darwin himself called their evolution “absurd.” But that doesn’t mean they’re perfect; eyes sometimes don’t focus correctly, they break down over time, and they can be extremely painful if infected, irritated, or exposed to light that’s too bright. Italian biotech startup MHOX is embarking on an ambitious project: to improve human eyes by making synthetic replacements.

"Latest developments in bioprinting and biohacking let us imagine that in the near future it would be possible to easily print organic, functional body parts, allowing the human to replace defected districts or enhance standard performance," lead designer Filippo Nassetti told Dezeen.

The concept is called Enhance Your Eye (EYE, of course) and are made from a 3D bioprinter, which uses a special needle to drop different types of cells into the appropriate alignment and structure. Bioprinters can already make organs such as ears, blood vessels, and kidneys, but eyes remain elusive because of their complexity.

The way Nassetti envisions it, users could choose between three different types of synthetic EYEs: Heal, Enhance, and Advance.

The first is a synthetic eye that basically works just like a natural one and could serve as a replacement for people with diseases or traumas that would otherwise be blind.

EYE Enhance seeks to improve the eye’s natural functions by improving vision to 15/20 and enabling filters on vision like those on photo apps (such as vintage, black and white). To turn on or change the filter, a user can take a pill.

The third type, Advance, has additional glands to capture or record what a person is seeing, as well as a Wi-Fi connection to share those images.In order to use an EYE system, people would need to get their natural eyes surgically removed and replaced with the Deck, a sort of artificial retina that connects to the brain and would allow users to plug in different eyeballs at will.

The designers behind EYE predict that the product will be on the market in early 2027, but they haven’t released any information about what the Deck looks like or how the system actually looks in a person. (It’s one thing if it looks natural, it’s quite another if the Deck sticks out and makes people look like mutant cyborgs.) And though 3D bioprinting is advancing quickly, making an eye might prove more challenging than anticipated.

As exciting as EYE seems to be, it’s important to note that there may be a number of hurdles that come up in the interim years that make the system less desirable--or even impossible--to use.

 

[Money Be Green]

1 step closer for me to become the new 6 million dollar man

 

[okra]

fukk no. this is a sign of the day of judgement

 

[Dirty_Jerz]

Following Will.i.am claims on the ethical challenges of advanced bioprinting, MHOX decided to remove confidentiality on a concept the office has been working on in the last year: EYE, a 3d bioprinted sight augmentation.

Latest developments in bioprinting and biohacking let us imagine that in the near future it would be possible to easily print organic, functional body parts, allowing the human to replace defected districts or enhance standard performance.

This project is based on the idea of augmenting the sight sense, increasing the functionalities of the eye with ones currently handled by other body segments or external devices.

EYE (Enhance Your Eye) product range includes three models: EYE HEAL, EYE ENHANCE, EYE ADVANCE.

EYE HEAL replaces standard eye functionality, providing a cure to sight deseases and traumas.

EYE ENHANCE sharpens sight up to 15/10, thanks to its hyper-retina. Moreover, the included visual gland allows the opportunity to aesthetically filter the visual signal. Filters (vintage, black and white, ...) can be activated or changed swallowing EYE pills.

EYE ADVANCE, on top of the other models' offer, provides the ability to record and share the visual experience, thanks to the included gland that supports wi-fi communication. Once activated the wi-fi mode through the EYE connection pill it is possible to connect the EYE like an external camera for several devices.

All the products in the EYE collection can be customized in order to preserve or change retinal morphology and information of the user.

The installation of the EYE augmentations needs a first surgical operation aimed at installing the Deck, the technology that actually connects the eye to the brain. After that, augmented eyes can be easily interchanged by their own users without the need of additional surgery. Besides allowing to use different augmentations in different contexts, this system is suitable for easy hardware upgrade.

All EYE models are 3d bioprinted. 3D bioprinting technologies allow biodesigners to directly print fully functional organ and organisms.The printer use a special needle that drops different kind of cells needed to recreate the different tissues of the EYE. These cells are contained in a special substance called bio-ink and the printer can switch between different bio-inks to recreate differentiation of tissues. Once the cells are dropped they automatically gather together. Thus, EYEs are completely organic.